LARKANA: Cardiac patients here face problems in treatment as the department of cardiology, Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH), critically faces a shortage of senior faculty.

Though the Pakistan Peoples Party government has been trying for a long time to equip the health facility with modern facilities, it fails to provide senior medical experts to run the daily routine of the CMCH.

Larkana health services Direc­tor Dr Ghulam Murtaza Soomro, who on a verbal order holds the charge of the medical superintendent (MS) of the CMCH, in a letter to the secretary health on Monday pointed towards the situation, sources in the hospital said.

Cardiology Prof Dr Saeed Sangi retired as head of the department on June 30, 2014. Prof Javed Akbar Siyal replaced Dr Sangi.

But instead of continuing here, Prof Javed got sanctioned two years leave from Shaheed Mohtrma Benazir Bhutto Medical University and left for Karachi, sources in the vice chancellor’s secretariat confirmed to Dawn on Monday, saying that he had kept liaison with the university.

The MS in the letter said Prof Siyal had joined the National Institute of Cardiology, Karachi, two month ago while Dr Sikandar Shaikh after promotion on April 7, 2015 was posted in Khairpur Mirs from the cardiology department of the CMCH. And

Dr Abdul Majeed Shaikh, senior cardiologist in grade-19, has retired today (Monday), according to the MS.

He has requested the Sindh health secretary to transfer Dr Sikandar Shaikh a senior cardiologist from Khairpur to the CMCH Larkana to save precious human lives here in the public interest.

The 50-beded cardiology unit with five beds in the emergency care was facing shortage of senior faculty, posing threat to the lives of cardiac patients.

This coronary care unit caters to the need of not only Larkana division, but also receives patients from the parts of Balochistan and Punjab. Daily attendance of the out patients department was assessed at over 150 with at least five regular admissions.

It was learnt that one senior registrar hailing from Sukkur was posted to immediately manage the load, but solution lies in overcoming the shortage of faculty as early as possible.

A senior medical officer associated with the department agreed that absence of senior faculty has overloaded the working doctors and there is a need that professor, associate professor and assistant professors should be posted their to run affairs as this important department serves as a training hub for the undergraduate and postgraduate students studying in Chandka Medical College.

Recently managers of the SMBBMU selected two assistant professors for the department, but due to certain bottlenecks the orders were delayed, the sources said.

Delay in posting senior faculty would deprive the needy patients to be treated by professors, but it would also have impact on the teaching of postgraduate students.

Interestingly, the seat of medical superintendent of the CMCH Larkana after the retirement of Dr Safilluah Abbasi, a grade-20 officer, on July 31, 2015 is still lying vacant, though there was no dearth of grade-20 officers in the department of health to head this huge institute.

Sources in the MS office said the seat of the professor of nephrology was also lying vacant after the retirement Prof Dr Qurban Shaikh and same is the case with the vacancy of chief medico-legal officer.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2015

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