LARKANA, June 8: Seven, out of a total of nine, dialysis machines in the department of urology at the Chandka Medical College Teaching Hospital here have been lying inoperative causing much frustration to the growing number of renal failure patients and a great deal of difficulty to the doctors.

Hospital sources said that four of the idle machines, procured in 1987, had been inspected by a team of experts some time ago who declared them ‘condemned’. Three other machines, however, have developed minor defects but no attempt has been made for long to get them repaired and help reduce the sufferings of the needy patients.

The sources said that the doctors handling the renal failure cases were striving hard to do much with the two machines but it was not possible for them to treat more than eight cases a day. The number of those on waiting list is growing fast, it has been observed.

The abrupt halt to the “PM’s programme for Kidney Patients” introduced by the former premier, Nawaz Sharif, has added to the miseries of the patients. The treatment now costs more, due to the suspension of funds under the programme, and virtually unaffordable for ordinary people.

The hospital management had tried to provide some relief to the patients by arranging Zakat fund as an alternative.

The Zakat fund also exhausted, said the Additional Medical Superintendent of the CMCH, Dr Mushtaque Haidri. He pointed out that the renal failure patients needed an uninterrupted financial support for which Zakat was the best source.

“We have to turn away three to four patients, seeking a dialysis, every week because most of the machines are out of order,” said a doctor in the department of Urology.

Giving a comparison, the sources said that for the procurement of medicines/machinery, the CMCH having a strength of 1,180 beds, received a grant of Rs15.784 million in the year 2000-2001 which was curtailed to Rs10.785 million in the current year.

The Liaquat Medical College Hospital, Hyderabad, they pointed out, has the capacity of 1,200 beds and it was granted Rs30.838 million in 2000-2001 and Rs37.258 million in the current year.

Similarly, the Civil Hospital, Karachi, having a strength of 1,400 beds received Rs42.711 million in the year 2000-2001 and the same amount for the current year while the Peoples Medical College Hospital, Nawabshah, having 750 beds received Rs17.458 million in year 2000-2001 and Rs12.8 million for the current year, they added.

The hospital management has called for a remedy to this disparity in the greater interest of the people deserving a health cover with adequate facilities.

It said that the federal government should at least restore the already provided dialysis machines and the funds being provided under the suspended PM’s programme for kidney patients.

BROTHERS KILLED: Two brothers, Bakht Ali and Talib Ali Shaikh were killed in village Shahoo Shaikh in the jurisdiction of Mahimakol police station late on Friday.