OKARA: The Okara District Headquarters (DHQ) City Hospital has long been facing a severe shortage of free medicines, particularly for inpatient departments, and has only 1,000 insulin vials available every four months for 3,600 registered diabetic patients.

The hospital owes a total of Rs145 million, including Rs75 million under the local purchase (LP) medicine facility and Rs70m for the government health card scheme. Air conditioning units in all wards, including the dialysis centre, have been out of order for over a month. Also, the hospital is plagued by poor cleanliness and inadequate administration, despite being one of the busiest and most overburdened facilities in the district.

The trauma centre, built two years ago, has been repurposed into a surgical emergency unit as specialist doctors were never appointed, and the centre remains unequipped with essential machines like CT scans and MRIs.

During his visit to the hospital on Saturday evening, Provincial Minister for Primary & Secondary Healthcare Khwaja Imran Nazir was informed of the situation by the hospital medical staff. He was told that no specialist doctors were available during evening and night shifts, with specialists only attending the morning shift.

The minister was accompanied by PML-N MPA Mian Muhammad Munir, CEO-Health Dr Saifullah Warraich and DHQ City Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Syed Sajjad Gilani. Chief Drug Controller Azhar Jamal Saleemi was also present and was questioned by the minister regarding the shortage of medicines.

The minister visited various hospital departments, including the medical, surgical and children’s wards, as well as the pharmacy and dialysis centre.

He inquired about the provision of free medicines from patients and attendants and was informed about the lack of life-saving drugs.

The hospital administration blamed budget shortages as the primary reason for the scarcity of medicines. The minister expressed his displeasure at the poor state of the hospital and warned if the air conditioning units were not repaired within 24 hours, the contractor responsible would be blacklisted across the province.

He also checked the “Clinic on Wheels” in the suburb village 54/2L and visited the Okara Patient Welfare Association, where he appreciated the association’s efforts in providing CT scan and MRI facilities on a no-profit, no-loss basis.

The minister directed the hospital administration to appear in Lahore with all relevant records on Tuesday (today).

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2024