KOHAT: The absence of life-saving drugs in the emergency departments of the KDA Hospital and the Women and Children Hospital (WCH), closure of medicine stores during night and one dispenser in a single shift have been creating problems for the patients here.

Of late, provision of free medicines has started at the emergency wards of the two hospitals, but some doctors are still prescribing medicines for promotion of medicines of certain private companies for commission.

Besides, only one dispenser has been working in the WCH emergency in the day and night shifts.

WCH MS Dr Obaib Hussain explained that he had ordered the transfer of four dispensers who were employees of his hospital and were drawing salaries from here, but they were not being relieved by his counterpart in the KDA hospital.

He said that he would issue another reminder and if they did not report their salaries would be stopped.

He said that there was a policy of only one emergency in one district, but in Kohat two were functioning on the demand of the people, which caused funds and staff problems.

Kohat’s Women and Children Hospital faces staff shortage

An official told this scribe that there were five sanctioned posts of dispensers, but only one was available who could not handle the rush of patients.

Sources said that the doctors intentionally prescribed medicines which were not available in the store and the poor people had to buy them from outside for their serious patients.

A poster displayed at the WCH asks the patients with kidney, heart, diabetes and psychiatric problems to go to the KDA hospital for emergency treatment, while at the same time life-saving drugs for heart patients are not available in the hospital. Some medicines are costly, but immediately required by heart patients.

The people have suggested that the hospital should keep these medicines and after completion of treatment it could charge the patients. The staff and the public circles suggested that the hospital store should be kept open during the night shift or the officials of the day shift acquire stock which was sufficient for the night.

They said that under the law the store must be open round the clock.

A medical store owner, Ilyas Bangash, said that now very few people came with prescriptions for medicines because the service had been started in the hospital. He said that best antibiotics had been provided at the hospital now.

An official said that nurses also demanded thousands of rupees from the attendants of patients at the labour room and in case of refusal they used to prescribe unnecessary medicines which they later sold at the medical stores.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2016