ALTHOUGH health services are provided at primary, secondary and tertiary levels supported by a number of projects funded by international donors like WHO, World Bank, Asian Bank, etc., the outcome till date is disappointing.

Health department is the most complex field required to provide extensive services in a number of fields, each having its own dynamics. Security of the staff is of prime importance. It is usually seen that gangsters roam the emergency department and wards, and some paramedics affiliated to political parties also play the same role. These gangsters humiliate and mishandle the medical staff, particularly when some serious patient expires.

Rangers pickets should be established at all emergency departments of medical institutions. Protection should also be provided to medical superintendents, who are under constant threat from political workers.

A number of departments have been established in medical institutions and other major hospitals without necessary sanction. As a result, there is scarcity of staff. So, first-year nurse or a ward servant is seen giving injections in night duties.

This should have been done at the time of PC-4 when the building is being handed over after the completion of its civil work. Moreover, a thorough exercise is to be conducted to see whether the institutions are having staff according to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council rules and nursing council recommendations. If not, then the deficiency should be filled immediately.

Equipment worth millions of rupees is being purchased with or without authorisation from specialists or department concerned.

All primary facilities should be redesigned and standardised. All basic health units, rural health clinics, and taluka hospitals must have a similar design throughout the province.

Dr Fateh M. Khan

Ex-Director General, Health Services, Sindh

Hyderabad

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2018