HYDERABAD, Jan 26: A report on Hyderabad Civil Hospital prepared by the district council’s committee on health paints a dismal picture of the state of affairs at the hospital where, it says ironically, a patient has been infected with two more diseases by the time he leaves after having been admitted there for sometime.

The reports submitted to the council on Monday by the committee’s chairman, Dr Arif Razmi, raised questions about performance of professors, who were under administrative control of the vice-chancellor of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences.

Professors and house officers were supposed to remain alert for 24 hours once a week but none cared about their duties. “The irony is that the professors don’t visit at all on post-emergency days. Operation theatre emergency begins after 2pm but no professor bothers to attend it. Barring only a few, no professor attends even OPD,” he said. He was highly critical of the level of insanitation in the hospital and said ironically that a patient had been infected with two more disease by the time he had recovered from one after having been admitted for sometime in the hospital.

He said that if professors worked dedicatedly and honestly then it would solve many problems of the hospital.

Hinting at lack of coordination between hospital’s medical superintendent and the vice-chancellor, Dr Razmi urged coordination between the two heads and said that the VC should take action on recommendations of the MS against professors and senior registrars.

He suggested that to improve conditions at the hospital, the district council should submit recommendations to the health ministry and governor of Sindh. “Besides, all of us should pray that may Allah guide authorities to take concrete steps in this regard,” he said.

He said that the hospital established in 1881 had been a medical school run by the Bombay Faculty of Medicines. In 1951, its status was upgraded to a medical college and in 1953 it was named after the first prime minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan.

Colonel Najeeb transferred the college to Jamshoro in 1957. In 1963, the Jamshoro branch of the hospital was constructed and in 2001 the medical college was upgraded to the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences.

The report said there were 23 wards in the hospital where 40,000 patients on an average were admitted per year while turnout of patients in the OPD stood at 1,100,000 and 60,000 big or small operations were performed every year.

In addition to postgraduate students, the strength of doctors comes to around 439, paramedics 1,203 while beds are 1,300. The hospital gets Rs211.188 million for medicines and Rs386.522 million for non-salary expenses.

Discussing work style of each ward, Dr Razmi’s report said that every professor was assisted by an associate professor, two to three assistant professors and then there were one to two senior registers, five to seven senior registrars, a dozen postgraduate students and 15 to 20 house officers.