PESHAWAR: The shortage of beds at medical teaching institutions has been affecting the treatment of newborn babies in the provincial capital, according to health experts.
They said that parents continued to shuttle among medical teaching institutions (MTIs) to find beds and get admitted their babies but they ultimately landed in private hospitals where facilities were not up to the mark.
“A few private hospitals have good facilities but treatment there is expensive and most people cannot afford it,” a paediatrician told this scribe.
On Tuesday, a one-day-old baby was referred from Khyber Teaching Hospital to Hayatabad Medical Complex from where the patient was referred to Lady Reading Hospital and ultimately ended up at Naseerullah Khan Babar Memorial Hospital.
Experts say several newborns are put in a single cot
“This is the most recurring issue because MTIs have staff but not beds. On every bed, multiple neonates are admitted which is against the protocol as it exposes them to infections,” said the paediatrician. He said that the matter was brought into the notice of government time and again but to no avail.
A member of Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA) said that part of the problem was also referral of patients from all districts to Peshawar. “It puts burden on Peshawar-based MTIs,” he added.
He said that neonates, from birth to 28 days, required highly specialised treatment. He said that on the one hand there was shortage of neonatologists and on the other non-availability of beds left the people with no option, except visiting expensive hospitals. “But few people can afford costly hospitals. Most people visit private hospitals where specialised services are not available. In the process, patients suffer,” he said.
A senior doctor working at the nursery ward of an MTI told Dawn that many times a baby was born at the labour room of a hospital as the mother was admitted to gynaecology ward of the same hospital but the newborn was referred from one hospital to another. There are over 1,700 beds in LRH, which has 40 cots for neonates. KTH has 1,300 beds and 35 cots for neonates. HMC has 1,200 beds but 40 for neonates.
A member of PPA said that government should strengthen district headquarters hospitals (DHQs) because admitting more newborns in the same cot could cause more health issue due to their weak immunity. “Common diseases reported in neonates are premature birth, low weight and oxygen deficiency. These can be handled at hospitals having the services of trained and well-equipped health workers,” he said.
He said that all DHQs got services of paediatricians but most people did not visit those facilities and came directly to Peshawar. There should be a proper referral system from DHQs to Peshawar. The neonates requiring tertiary care services should be sent to Peshawar while those having common issues should be treated in DHQs, he said.
“In Pakistan, 54 of 1,000 neonates die every day and 50 per cent of them due to lack of treatment. Gaps is newborn care should be filled through filling the vacant positions at district level,” said the PPA member. He said that there were more than 70,000 beds for adults in the hospitals of the province but only 2,000 for children.
“We are hopeful that issues relating to child health will be resolved to a great extent with the launch of the first-ever dedicated Children Hospital in Peshawar. The hospital has been in limbo for the past 12 years but now the government has released the desired funds and the facility is likely to go operational within a month or two,” he said.
He said that there were scores of paediatricians having qualification in sub-specialties but they worked in other provinces or had gone abroad. “The government should create posts so that they can come and serve their own people,” he said.
Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2026
