KARACHI, Nov 5: Thanks to official apathy, a maternity health centre upgraded to the status of a general healthcare centre — the Gazdarabad Maternity and General Hospital (GMGH) — has failed to perform better than a small such centre.

Housed in a multi-storey building, this 100-bed hospital run by the City District Government of Karachi (CDGK) in a thickly populated area on Nishtar Road can still emerge as a major medical care provider if sincere efforts are made, say people living in the surrounding areas.

A couple of staffers said the hospital failed to live up to the expectations of the people due to a lack of facilities and resources.

In July, 2009, the then city nazim after inaugurating a dental care facility, an operation theatre, a pathological laboratory and a ward at the GMGH had said that at least 10 doctors and 20 paramedical staff would be posted within a week to ensure proper utilisation of the hospital.

Since then, much water has flowed under the bridge but nothing has changed in this CDGK-owned health centre.

A recent visit to the GMGH revealed that almost 92 per cent of the beds of a ward on the first floor were vacant and most staff members enjoyed themselves in the absence of in-house patients. The remaining built-up and furnished wards and theatres were also found with no sign of life.

Instead of functioning as a fully-fledged round-the-clock medical centre, the hospital, with about 120-strong staff, including physicians, gynaecologists and paramedics, cater only to the needs of visiting patients, mostly children and pregnant women, through its out-patient clinics that worked on a half-day basis.

A senior staff member told Dawn that even the available staff lacked necessary enthusiasm to work.

“First we did not get government funds for the purchase of medicines for free delivery to the patients and now there is no guarantee of salaries,” he said, adding that the staff had not been paid October’s salary though Eidul Azha was round the corner.

A couple of women patients at the OPD blamed the lethargy of the staff and lack of relevant doctors for the dismal situation.

“They don’t take cases seeking surgery or admit them for any overnight stay and care,” said a woman, adding that cases reporting in the afternoon or at night were mostly referred to other hospitals such as the Civil Hospital Karachi and the Sobhraj Maternity Hospital.

The medical superintendent of the GMGH, Dr Masood H. Khan, however, said the maternity section now had doctors who handled not only ordinary cases of delivery but some surgical ones also.

“Since we have no ICU, cases of emergency nature are not admitted here,” he said, adding that the hospital could not be run without specialists and medical surgeons and the authorities had already been approached in this regard.

The MS who took over about four months back said that some routine medicines were being provided to patients, while relief to patients was also being extended through the Zakat fund.

“The high-ups have realised the gravity of the hospital’s problems and I have been told that a meeting will be held soon to seek their solution,” he said.

Since its establishment as a dispensary 55 years ago with the collaboration of the local government and the Gazdar family, the health facility has undergone repeated renovations and upgrades at huge costs. It was meant for patients from Saddar, Lyari, Usmanabad, Ramaswami, Ranchhore Line and the adjoining areas.

It was declared a general hospital by Dr Farooq Sattar as the city mayor over 20 years back and worked under the administrative and financial control of the Sobhraj Maternity Home, another hospital run by the now defunct KMC. However, in 2003 the then local government minister belonging to the MQM delinked the GMGH from the SMH and posted a separate MS to look after the hospital.

According to a source, the hospital, however, continued to be known as “a sick health unit” both from the administrative and medical care delivery points of view even during the period it ran as a Sindh local government department (SLGD) unit. Moreover, after devolution and its transfer to the city district government of Karachi, the hospital remained unable to receive adequate funds for the purchase of necessary medicines.

The hospital had to face a shortage of doctors, particularly specialists. The CDGK lately also did not include the proposed recurring expenditures of the hospital in distress in its annual budgets, it was further learnt.

When contacted, the EDO for health said the CDGK was given the administration of a number of major medical facilities as a result of the devolution, while appointments of senior doctors and specialists remained with the local government department, which decided to maintain a separate cadre of its employees working at various health institutions and other sectors by naming it the Sindh Council Unified Grade (SCUG), the EDO said. He added that during the years after the devolution many of the officers were transferred to some other places. Some of them retired on reaching the age of superannuation.

However, he said that while the CDGK had dedicated some of its doctors to the devolved provincial government health care centres, it had to look to the Sindh local government department for the appointment of specialist doctors against the vacancies existing in the SCUG cadre. The local government department has repeatedly been asked to provide the required doctors to fill the vacancies not only at the GMGH but at a couple of other institutions also.Another source said that the GMGH needed 25 more doctors —18 specialists and six resident medical officers. The SLGD has appointed no doctors for over 12 years. There are only 14 RMOs and a couple of senior doctors, a mix of CDGK and SCUG employees, added the source.

Speaking to Dawn, local government department secretary Ali Ahmad Lund said his department was in the process of hiring 33 lady medical officers through the public service commission, which would be accomplished within two and a half months.

He further said that on the issue of specialists he had talked to the CDGK high-ups and in view of the unavailability of specialist doctors against government advertisements, it had now been agreed that such doctors would be appointed on a contract basis by offering them high salaries matching what was being offered in the market. The department would advertise 73 posts of specialists soon, Mr Lund added.