ISLAMABAD: Due to its negligence and apparent apathy of the medical staff, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has been losing the trust of patients, who prefer to visit private hospitals instead of the largest state-run hospital in the federal capital.

On Feb 1, 69-year-old Tahira Jabeen was brought to Pims by her family members after she “suffered a stroke”. The patient remained unattended in the emergency ward for almost 45 minutes. The family members of Ms Jabeen tried to get the attention of the doctors, but they were snubbed and advised to come back the next day.

After they finally managed to get the attention of hospital high-ups, the patient was referred for a CT scan. After her condition deteriorated further, the doctors decided to apply a pulse oximeter. Although it was arranged, the device was out of order. It took several minutes to arrange another oximeter. Then, one attendant was sent to buy a non-rebreather mask (NRM), a device that gives oxygen usually in cases of emergency, and another was using all hisenergy to get the report of the CT scan. After the members returned, they found Ms Jabeen to be non-responsive and a subsequent ECG showed that the unattended patient had passed away.

This is the story of Asjad Ali, who had brought his mother to the hospital’s emergency ward last week. Before Pims, he took his mother to a private clinic of a Pims neurologist.

“The doctor prescribed some medicines; after taking those medicines, my mother became unconscious. I contacted the personal assistant (PA) of the doctor but he asked me to take the patient to Pims,” said Mr Ali.

“I followed the advice; however, I got nothing but the dead body of my mother from Pims,” he said.

According to Asjad Ali, he was shocked at the professionalism of the Pims staffers and how they treated the patients.

Mr Ali is not the only person who regrets taking their loved ones to Pims. A few months ago, five-month-old Hareem Fatima was brought to Pims in critical condition. She was suffering from blood deficiency and low platelets.

Her uncle Hafiz Irfan told Dawn that initially, the oxygen point was not available at the hospital. He said he approached some of the doctors due to which the patient was admitted to the emergency ward till the availability of an oxygen-port bed.

“Soon after the doctors recommended that the baby should be put on a ventilator, which was also not available. Despite his hectic efforts, including approaching the Polyclinic hospital, the baby passed away due to unavailability of a ventilator,” he said.

Sohail Jamil, a resident of Islamabad, also complained about the apathy of the doctors. He said his mother broke her hipbone and he approached Pims for her operation.

“I had to approach doctors to get my mother operated. Later, she was shifted to the surgical ward where there were no arrangements for cleanliness. I requested nurses and ward boys but they never paid heed. Doctors used to visit in the morning only… I appeal to the health ministry that patients should be treated like human beings rather than animals,” he said.

When contacted, Pims spokesperson Dr Mubashir Mushtaq Daha said the hospital staff was under a lot of stress due to the high number of patients.

“Pims was established in 1986 and since then Islamabad could not get a tertiary care hospital like Pims,” he said, adding that the population and the burden of patients on the hospital had increased.

“We get almost 15,000 patients daily due to which staff remains under stress,” he said.

Replying to another question, he said that hundreds of seats were vacant in the hospital and efforts were being made to fill those posts at the earliest.

“I agree that the staff should have a very positive attitude with the patients; Executive Director Dr Rana Imran Sikander has been trying to ensure that the staff behave positively with the patients. He takes strict action over such complaints,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2024