PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has decided to increase the number of beds in emergency, nursery, intensive care and cardiac care units at district headquarters hospitals to cater to the growing number of patients there as well as at medical teaching institutions.

It formally asked the medical superintendents of public sector hospitals on Thursday to update it about their bed capacity within a week.

After getting that data and learning about the need for more beds, the department will ask the provincial government for funds to enhance bed capacity of hospitals to improve patient care, according to officials.

They told Dawn that the department had been receiving reports about shortage of beds in many DHQ hospitals and the referring of patients to Peshawar’s medical teaching institutions though they’re already overburdened.

Health dept seeks bed capacity data within a week

“Things are very bad at Peshawar’s MTIs because patients are being shifted from all districts there,” an official told Dawn.

He said public sector hospitals in districts had got ICU, CCU, emergency and nursery wards along with the required doctors and other staff members but they still referred patients to Peshawar MTIs.

The official said nursery wards at the Lady Reading Hospital, Hayatabad Medical Complex and Khyber Teaching Hospital remained crammed with patients all through the year, while two and three neonates shared a bed spreading infections.

He also said things were no different at accidents and emergency departments of those Peshawar hospitals as patients who could be managed at DHQ hospitals were being sent there “needlessly.”

“We [health department] want to ensure that the people visit their nearest hospitals for treatment of common health issues and only the critically-ill and complicated patients are referred to Peshawar,” he said.

The official said the department wanted to “rationalise” the flow of patients and stop people with minor health issues from coming to Peshawar for treatment.

“People from far-off districts are visiting not only hospital emergency wards but also OPDs here. That is causing financial issues and depriving the people of tertiary care,” he said.

The officials said there were wards at district hospitals where minor burns cases could be managed effectively but patients didn’t go there and preferred rushing to the Burns and Plastic Surgery Centre of Peshawar, where finding a bed had become a herculean task as most patients stayed there for a longer period.

When contacted, director (administration) at the directorate general health services Dr Mohammad Siraj said data was collected to plan the distribution of hospital beds in an “uneven and crisis situation.”

“Once we get the complete data, we will carry out planning to ensure that the patients get services in their nearest hospitals, while those requiring specialised care come to Peshawar for treatment,” he said.

Dr Siraj said recently, the directorate rationalised distribution of equipment.

“In some hospitals, equipment has gone into disuse but we shifted them to the hospitals where those are needed,” he said.

The director said the number of hospital beds were increased every year as new facilities were built and older ones were upgraded but the department was making efforts to ensure that the people get care in their own areas and the provincial capital’s hospitals focus on the treatment of critical patients.

“We will request the government for funds after getting full data about beds,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2024