FAISALABAD: The 50-bed Wapda Hospital, meant for treatment of Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (Fesco) employees, is facing a plethora of issues to the disadvantage of patients.

The hospital lacks burn and orthopedic wards and such patients, though common in Fesco, are referred to the Allied or DHQ hospitals.

The federal government had established the hospital adjacent to the Fesco headquarters and made it operational in 2008.

Abdul Ghaffar Gujjar, deputy chairman (regional) the Wapda Hyrdo Electric Central Labour Union, told Dawn everything was excellent on paper, however, the real situation at the hospital was otherwise.

He said Fesco often faced incidents of burns, accidents and orthopedic related cases and the hospital doctors had to refer the patients to other public hospitals run by the Punjab government.

Mr Gujjar said the facility of CT scan, considered mandatory due to the nature of job of Fesco workers, was not available while hospital ambulances were also useless as the hospital administration had no authority to allow an ambulance for transporting even the bodies of workers.

Presently, the Wapda Hospital has 11 different specialties, including dental, gynecology, surgery, eye, ENT, cardiologist and medicine, with about two dozen doctors.

Specialties of paediatrics, pathology, anesthesia and radiology have also been approved for the hospital, however, the administration has failed to hire services of any doctor.

Assistant Director (Admin) Mian Mahmood Ahmad told Dawn that efforts were being made for attaching the hospital with a local private medical institute that would help extend the treatment of orthopedics and burn to Fesco employees.

He said that besides the hospital, four Wapda dispensaries had also been serving the Fesco employees in Jhang, Sargodha, Mianwali and Faisalabad.

The administration had been doing its best to serve the employees, he said, adding that the former Fesco CEO had also taken up the issue of attaching the Wapda Hospital with a local institute to improve its services.

Presently, the local administration of the Fesco had no control on the hospital affairs that are being controlled by the Director General of Health Services, Lahore.

Sources said a local industrialist was trying to get the hospital attached with his university.

However, a number of teaching experts engaged in government sector were not in favour of attachment of the hospital with a private institution, saying that instead of serving the hospital, the industrialists would get benefit from the government resources.

They said the government should attach the hospital with the Punjab Medical College that was a well-established entity having experts of all disciplines.

Dr Maqsood Ahmed, assistant professor of the Punjab Medical College, said the authorities concerned could convert Wapda Hospital into an excellent facility by allowing specialists of different disciplines to do their private practice in the evening.

He said availability of the specialists at this easy-to-access place would bring patients from all corners of the division.

He said one could check that Canal Road and Peoples Colony were posh areas having scores of private clinics set up by experts of different diseases.

The Wapda Hospital’s engagement with such experts will provide another established healthcare facility to residents of Faisalabad and its adjoining areas.