Patients suffer as junior doctors posted at senior slots at Lahore General Hospital emergency dept
LAHORE: The critical patients at the multi-storey Accident & Emergency Department (A&E) of the Lahore General Hospital (LGH) are facing multiple issues as junior and ad-hoc doctors from the general cadre have been posted there against the key slots designated for the teaching cadre senior medics in violation of standard guidelines provided by Strengthening Emergency Medical Services (SEMS).
In the recent past, the critical unit (A&E) was headed by teaching cadre doctors under the SEMS programme in order to overcome the complaints of delayed treatment, particularly of surgeries, overcrowding, non-provision of medicines etc.
A senior official says the critical department was headed by Sikandar Hayat Gondal and Khyzar Hayat Gondal, respectively when Prof Ghiasun Nabi Tayyab and Prof Mohammad Tayyab were the principals of the LGH.
Presently, he adds, the other government teaching hospitals of Lahore, including Mayo and Services hospitals, are following the SEMS programme guidelines by appointing teaching cadre doctors at their A&E departments.
MS says teaching cadre avoids appointment at emergency dept
Contrary to these facts, the reports suggested that the LGH’s emergency department is being run by a general-cadre doctor who is acting as director emergency while the post is designated for a medical teacher.
Similarly, the current additional director emergency is also from the same cadre and holding the second most important slot.
Interestingly, the official source says, both these officers are holding multiple assignments at the same times other than those meant for the A&E department.
Talking about the significance of the critical facility (A&E), he says, it is regarded as a backbone of a tertiary care institute for being managed by a team of dedicated and highly trained senior medics to ensure timely treatment 24/7.
The official says the director emergency is holding additional assignments of principal of Allied Health Sciences School of the LGH, director administration, director store and the assignment to assist the institute for some new initiatives.
After spending a few hours at the A&E Department, he leaves the department to discharge other duties and spends most of his time there till 2pm daily, leaving the critical unit at the mercy of the deputy medical superintendents (DMSs).
Earlier to his position, the medic had served as MS Jinnah Hospital from where he was removed following serious complaints related to the mismanagement.
The official says that the DMSs at the emergency department are assigned duties for morning, evening and night shifts.
He laments that all these DMS are posted on an ad-hoc basis, another gross negligence that revealed ‘a mindset of the institute’ of handing over treatment affairs of the critical patients to the irrelevant staff.
About the additional director emergency, he says that he is discharging the additional duties as vice principal of the Allied Health School and AMS admin, leaving him with a brief time to handle the emergency department.
The SEMS programme was introduced in 2007 to upgrade the emergency units of major teaching hospitals of Punjab to be staffed by the senior doctors of the teaching cadre only.
Unfortunately, the official adds, most of the operations of the critical patients brought in the road accidents, falling from buildings, and in such other such incidents are being performed by the junior doctors at the LGH’s A&E unit without supervision of senior surgeons.
“No even a professor visited the said department of the LGH during last six months or so to assess what is being done with the critical patients at the emergency operating theatres,” the official alleges.
The situation is reportedly very alarming and disturbing at the orthopedic department of the LGH’s emergency where in some cases the patients with multiple fractures or injuries are left untreated for more than two weeks.
As per the standard medical guidelines for the A&E Department, the patients must be operated soon after his admission and their stay at the emergency unit should not exceed 24 hours.
The duty doctors are bound to shift the patients to the relevant indoor department after the surgery within 24 hours, the official says.
About the delay, he holds a network comprising some doctors, employees and the owners of the private medical stores outside the A&E Department responsible, saying the patients waiting for surgeries are allegedly trapped for private treatment.
Many such complaints have been reported in the past to the health department and the other authorities concerned, the official says.
Following these complaints, he says, a senior orthopedic surgeon of the LGH was reportedly removed from his position a couple of years back when the then CM took notice, got the matter inquired and held him guilty of negligence.
The casualty department of the LGH in question is handling around 3,000 emergencies daily.
LGH Medical Superintendent (MS) Prof Dr Faryad Hussain says the teaching cadre faculty has been avoiding appointments at the emergency departments.
“Secondly, we have a limited number of medical teachers who are eligible to head the A&E Department of the LGH.”
Even then, the LGH’s emergency department is providing state-of-the-art treatment services to the patients, Prof Hussain says, adding that currently 300 medical equipment installed at the 280-bed unit-in-question are fully functional, making it the first casualty department offering these rare services.
He says the posting of teaching cadre medics at the emergency department is only viable at the government institutes like Mayo Hospital Lahore.
To a question, he replies that the LGH is working on some proposals to address the chronic complaints of delay in surgeries at the emergency ward in order to ensure that every patient would undergo the procedure soon after their admission. The initiative in this regard would be launched soon, the MS adds.
Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2025
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