LAHORE: The Allied Hospital Faisalabad tops the list of four major government health facilities of Punjab which are receiving “unmanageable turnout of patients” annually.

The teaching hospital has reported nearly one million patients at its outpatient department (OPD) and more than 150,000 indoor admissions. The numbers are said to be beyond its capacity and resources.

It is also treating patients more than those visiting any mega teaching hospital of Lahore as the authorities concerned have reported its bed occupancy rate alarmingly high - 145 per cent.

The Allied Hospital is among the four state-run hospitals of the province which have been shortlisted as a pilot project under a mega revamp scheme launched by the Punjab government to upgrade them with the latest equipment and other [missing] facilities.

Faisalabad’s health facility is among four to undergo revamp

The other institutes include Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), Rawalpindi, and Children’s Hospital, Multan.

An official tells Dawn that the government has for the first time introduced [this] scheme to identify problems emerging at the public sector teaching hospitals with a sole purpose of addressing them under a structured programme.

He says on successful implementation, the scheme will be later replicated in all the teaching hospitals of the province.

For this purpose, the health department has conducted a comprehensive survey of the above-mentioned hospitals covering all aspects including financial allocations, available infrastructure and human resource.

The survey shows that the abnormally high turnout of patients has been “a constant source of trouble” in providing uninterrupted and standard treatment to patients. And it has badly felt the need to implement referral system (as a long-term strategy) which had been introduced some 10 years back with an objective of minimising burden on the mega specialised government hospitals of Punjab.

Many facts about the sorry state of affairs at the government hospitals have also been revealed in the health department’s survey report. A copy of the report is also available with Dawn.

The report encompasses some other problems the government hospitals have been facing since long.

It says the Allied Hospital Faisalabad also stands on top of the shortlisted hospitals in respect of conducting various kinds of major and minor surgeries.

Even the Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, despite being the largest teaching hospital in the provincial capital, lags behind the Allied [Hospital] in providing wide-range health services to patients.

The statistics show that being the sole mega health facility in the region, Allied Hospital requires immediate attention to cater to [health] needs of a vast population of the city [Faisalabad] and other nearby districts and villages.

The [comparative] study carried out during the survey says the Allied Hospital attended nearly 0.2 million more patients than those visiting the OPD of Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, last year.

Similarly, the BBH, Rawalpindi, treated 684,459 patients and Children’s Hospital, Multan, received 195,103 people last year.

The report further says the bed occupancy rate at the Children’s Hospital was 100pc, Jinnah Hospital 91pc and at BBH 85pc.

According to the report, the [shortlisted] hospitals require more funds than those being allocated in the annual budget.

The Allied Hospital’s annual budget was Rs2,253 million that was provided in accordance with the allocated beds – 1,385.

As its bed occupancy ratio has reached 145pc, the hospital is bearing expenses more than those set aside in the budget according to the beds strength.

The report has forwarded a set of recommendations to the authorities concerned to make the revamp scheme successful before replicating it in the entire teaching hospitals of the province.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2017