LARKANA: Hundreds of kidney patients, whose life hinges on dialysis, continue to suffer untold agony as the already underperforming nephrology department at the Chandka Medical College Hospital, which had been closed down after a part of its roof and plaster fell on patients in August this year, has not been reopened since.

The repair work moved at a snail’s pace at the department where 10 dialysis machines were lying out of order and only four were functioning before it was shut down on the order of vice chancellor of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University to avoid future risks, said hospital sources.

The department had a capacity of admitting 20 to 25 patients with different kidney ailments, majority of them in need of dialysis, said Assistant Prof Dr Ghulam Abbas Qadri, in-charge of the department.

Dr Qadri said that with only OPD of the department functioning, they had to turn away most of kidney patients requiring dialysis, who came from remote areas of Balochistan and parts of Punjab in addition to locals.

Nephrology department was shut down in August for rehabilitation; 10 out of 14 dialysis machines are lying out of order

The department of the tertiary hospital caters to the needs of patients coming from a vast area. It used to carry out 40-50 dialysis procedures in past while chronic patients had to wait for their turn to get admitted to the department, which had now been closed, he said.

As a temporary arrangement, the CMCH management in consultation with head of the nephrology department weighed the option of relocating the dialysis services and indoor facilities to the old Covid-19 ward in the hospital, said the sources.

They said that work on necessary repairs and renovation of the department had been started, which continued by fits and starts, prolonging agony of kidney patients in bad need of dialysis.

They blamed lack of seriousness and empathy by officers concerned for the extremely slow-pace of repairs at the building and its temporary relocation to an alternative place.

Dr Qadri said he had written to the VC (also director of Hospital Management Board) urging him to speed up the work and the VC had asked him to submit in writing the current state of the ward.

He said that there was also an acute shortage of functional dialysis machines in the department which were not sufficient to cater to heavy load of patients.

He called for urgent measures to repair the building and the machines and special electric motors.

He pointed out that for three years, the contract for maintenance of the installed machines had not been renewed which had led to recurring faults in the machines. Hence, he urged immediate renewal of the contract.

About the condition of dialysis machines, he said in the letter that out of seven, only four were working while three were lying idle which needed either necessary repairs or decommissioning.

A source said that 10 machines were lying out of order and only four were functioning. Two new dialysis machines were also lying unpacked, he said.

It was need of the hour to expedite relocation of the department to an alternative space to accommodate kidney patients and urgently renew contract with the company to get all the machines repaired and resume serving the swelling number of kidney patients.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2023