LAHORE:The faculty of the Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI) and senior doctors of the Lahore General Hospital (LGH) continued performing their duties wearing black armbands for the second day on Tuesday to press the government to ensure provision of facilities at public hospitals.

“The government provides resources on the basis of number of beds and not number of patients and expects state-of-the-art healthcare delivery at its hospitals,” said the Punjab Medical Teachers’ Association’s PGMI secretary general Prof Sikandar Hayat Gondal.

He said some 2,500 patients were visiting the LGH emergency ward daily and the ward had only 110 beds.

“Only 400 patients can be treated in an emergency ward of 100 beds during 24 hours according to World Health Organisation (WHO) standards. How can more than 2,000 people be provided state-of-the-art healthcare with resources for some 400 patients? That is why we have more than one patient on a bed in our public hospitals,” said Prof Gondal.

Terming all the public hospitals in Lahore overburdened, he said the need of the hour was to ensure provision of healthcare facilities at tehsil level infirmaries in the public sector and development of a referral system.

“We can also have filter clinics in Lahore, having communication link with teaching hospitals. Junior doctors can seek advice of their teachers through the communication system which can also be extended to tehsil and district level hospitals. But the basic thing is provision of resources according to number of patients and not on the basis of beds,” said Prof Gondal.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2017