CHAKWAL: The health department Chakwal has dumped an incinerator provided to it by the federal government instead of installing the machine for the disposal of waste at the District Headquarters Hospital.

In 2007, the then federal government provided 17 incinerators to as many district hospitals at a total cost of Rs59.5 million.

Chakwal was among the districts which got the incinerators. But without making any planning, the incinerator was installed on the premises of a Basic Health Unit (BHU) in the Dub village, about seven kilometres away from the DHQ hospital, where there was no facility of gas to run it. Since 2007, the incinerator has been rusting amidst grass which have grown around it.

“Due to the non-functioning of the incinerator, we have to burn the hospital waste on the premises of the hospital,” said an official of the DHQ hospital.

“As hospital waste is not disposed of completely by burning, it causes health hazards among the citizens,” he added.

Heaps of other waste, such as leftovers of food, wrappers and old and useless furniture can also be seen at the centre of the main hospital building.

Due to the poor hygienic conditions, cases of tuberculosis are on the rise among the staff members of the hospital. Documents obtained by Dawn showed that 10 employees of the hospital, including three nurses, a nursing student, dispenser, a ward servant and two drivers, are suffering from tuberculosis. The total number of TB patients in the district stands at 2,200 - 1,000 males and 1,200 females.

“If the 10 staffers of the hospital are suffering from TB, it means the situation is alarming,” said a senior doctor of the hospital. “TB is a poor man’s disease which spreads due to the unhygienic condition.”

It may be noted that the Punjab government installed air conditioners (ACs) at all the public hospitals during the last tenure of Shahbaz Sharif. As many as 97 ACs were also installed at the DHQ Hospital Chakwal. For installing these ACs, the old windows of the hospital’s wards and rooms were permanently closed so that the ACs could cool the wards and rooms properly. But even after four years, not a single AC was ever switched on. “To switch on the ACs it requires electricity which is not available for hours during the summer. And if the electricity is available, we cannot afford the bills by using the ACs,” the doctor added.

The DHQ hospital is also facing a host of other issues. It has no medicines, including tetanus injections, for the patients. “About 50 to 70 patients in an urgent need of the tetanus injection are brought to the hospital daily,” said an official of the hospital.

The hospital also faces the shortage of staff. There are 97 sanctioned gazetted posts but 25 of them, including the only post of cardiologist, are vacant. Out of the 149 sanctioned posts of non-gazetted officials, 25 are vacant.

When contacted, Executive District Officer Health Dr Ayub Sadiq said a new motor-pump to overcome the shortage of water would be installed in the hospital soon. “The tetanus vaccine would also be made available soon as the Punjab government is trying its best for its provision,” he maintained.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2014