By Kiyya Qadir Baloch
ISLAMABAD: The capital's largest public hospital, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), is grappling with the shortage of life-saving medicines. The patients' attendants have alleged that they have to either buy medicines from the market or visit a private hospital for treatment.
There are three types of essential drugs required at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and they include Epinephrine, Phenylephrine and Piperacillin, which are also not available at the PIMS.
PIMS sources told this scribe that essential life-saving drugs were not available in the Emergency and other wards, which forced doctors to either refer the patients to another hospital or ask them to buy them from outside. "In both cases, we end up in trouble and the patients and their attendants have to suffer," said a senior doctor on the condition of anonymity. "Dialysis catheters, ambo bags and arterial lines, an ample stock of which are required round the clock, are missing too," he added.
The situation is grimmer in the Emergency Ward as it bears the maximum load of patients because of being the capital's largest hospital. The Emergency Ward of the PIMS is overflowing with patients. Attendants at the hospital claimed that doctors expressed their inability in providing medicines to the patients because of their shortage.
A senior surgeon from PIMS, who wished to remain unnamed, said all wards within the hospital, in particular the Emergency Ward, had been experiencing an acute shortage of required medicines for the last one month.
Countless complaints from different wards regarding the shortage of medicine had been registered with the high-ups of the hospital, the senior surgeon said, adding, "However, owing to the attitude of the hospital higher-ups who are least bothered to solve people's problems, the matter is still lingering on." He said due to the lack of medicines, people were compelled to purchase medicines from private medical stores, which were otherwise available free of cost at public health units.
It is worth-mentioning here that every day, thousands of patients visit the Out-Patient Department (OPD) of the PIMS. The majority of the patients belong to the poor segment of the society and are unable to purchase medicines from private medical stores.
Rahat Samad, an attendant, alleged that apart from shortage of medicines, they were also not getting proper treatment. Refuting the charges, the hospital's spokeswomen Dr Ayesha Eshani said all the essential medicines were available in the hospital. There was no shortage of drugs at the PIMS and patients had been getting them free of cost round the clock, she added.
ISLAMABAD: The capital's largest public hospital, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), is grappling with the shortage of life-saving medicines. The patients' attendants have alleged that they have to either buy medicines from the market or visit a private hospital for treatment.
There are three types of essential drugs required at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and they include Epinephrine, Phenylephrine and Piperacillin, which are also not available at the PIMS.
PIMS sources told this scribe that essential life-saving drugs were not available in the Emergency and other wards, which forced doctors to either refer the patients to another hospital or ask them to buy them from outside. "In both cases, we end up in trouble and the patients and their attendants have to suffer," said a senior doctor on the condition of anonymity. "Dialysis catheters, ambo bags and arterial lines, an ample stock of which are required round the clock, are missing too," he added.
The situation is grimmer in the Emergency Ward as it bears the maximum load of patients because of being the capital's largest hospital. The Emergency Ward of the PIMS is overflowing with patients. Attendants at the hospital claimed that doctors expressed their inability in providing medicines to the patients because of their shortage.
A senior surgeon from PIMS, who wished to remain unnamed, said all wards within the hospital, in particular the Emergency Ward, had been experiencing an acute shortage of required medicines for the last one month.
Countless complaints from different wards regarding the shortage of medicine had been registered with the high-ups of the hospital, the senior surgeon said, adding, "However, owing to the attitude of the hospital higher-ups who are least bothered to solve people's problems, the matter is still lingering on." He said due to the lack of medicines, people were compelled to purchase medicines from private medical stores, which were otherwise available free of cost at public health units.
It is worth-mentioning here that every day, thousands of patients visit the Out-Patient Department (OPD) of the PIMS. The majority of the patients belong to the poor segment of the society and are unable to purchase medicines from private medical stores.
Rahat Samad, an attendant, alleged that apart from shortage of medicines, they were also not getting proper treatment. Refuting the charges, the hospital's spokeswomen Dr Ayesha Eshani said all the essential medicines were available in the hospital. There was no shortage of drugs at the PIMS and patients had been getting them free of cost round the clock, she added.
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