NAROWAL: The unavailability of essential eye drops has forced patients to leave the Narowal District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital without any treatment.

The surgeon’s seat remained vacant for two years after eye specialist Dr Amanat Ali retired in 2020.

The Punjab Health Department posted three months ago eye specialist Dr Muhammad Owais as Dr Ali’s replacement. Since his posting, the hospital has been facing a shortage of eye drops called sterile ophthalmic solutions, which are administered to an eye patient before a checkup.

Amjad Ali and Mohammad Hanif, of Chak Amarur, said they travelled 55km to get their eyes checked at the DHQ Hospital only to be told there were no drops to put in the eyes, so they could not be examined.

Sughra Bibi and Rashida Khanum had a similar complaint that their checkup and lens replacement have been put off for three months.

The members of the public protested against the hospital and District Health Authority officials for their negligence.

Dr Owais said his department does not have a sterile ophthalmic solution for outpatient department patients. He said surgeries have not been done in the eye department for the last two and a half years. He said he wrote to the hospital administration several times in the last three months to provide lenses and medicine but to no avail.

According to hospital sources, the annual local purchase budget of the hospital is Rs40 million.

Citizens Abdul Ghaffar and Muhammad Ashraf, however, claim that the administration hardly spends anything on medicine purchases.

Dr Khalid Javed, chief executive officer of the health authority, said the DHQ Hospital has an ample budget for the local purchase of medicine.

Deputy Commissioner Shahrukh Niazi said he sought a report from the health authorities regarding the non-availability of medicines and eye lenses in the eye department, adding that solving the health problems of citizens is among the top priorities of the district administration.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2022