Administrative disorder at LRH speaks volumes of PTI govt’s poor performance

Lahore (APP): Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) Peshawar, the biggest teaching hospital in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is unable to cater the needs of patients because of administrative issues which
speaks volumes of inefficiency and poor performance of PTI government in the province and the hospital management.

Even the appointment of Dr Nosherwan Burki, cousin of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan as Chairman Board of Directors of LRH could not resolve administrative disorder affecting the health delivery system.

According to hospital sources, 16 ventilators in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) have been out of order for a long time while three angiography machines at Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) are also dysfunctional.

The only MRI and CT scan machines often remain out of order due to overload of the patients coming from far flung districts, who are forced to get the relative tests done privately for Rs 10,000 against only
Rs 1,300 if done at the LRH, the sources said.

Due to apathy of the provincial government, they said, the number of doctors at the Accident and Emergency Department has reduced from 60 during the previous government to about 30 causing problems for patients, who need urgent care and treatment because of their precarious condition.

The sources said one doctor has to treat 57 patients in an hour as about 341 patients visit the Emergency Department per hour daily.

The image table of Orthopedics Ward has been out of order for last one year due to which patients with bone issues could not be treated at night because of non-service of Ultra Sound machine, they added.

The absence of operators in lifts at Cardiology, Neurosurgery, and Gyne wards during night shift are also a question mark on the efficiency of hospital management, the sources said.

Most of the patients with serious ailments have to wait for morning to get treatment from a consultant doctor as mostly junior and house job doctors are seen in evening and night shifts. This has exposed the tall claims of the PTI government of disciplining senior doctors by introducing the bio-metric system in the hospital.

It may be mentioned that most of the doctors working in the LRH belong to outside of Peshawar and they face accommodation problems in the city.Most of the residential flats and rooms in doctors hostel are overburdened and doctors living outsides the LRH premises have to face problems to reach their respective wards during emergency due to traffic jams.

The Provincial Doctors Association has displayed banners at different places of LRH demanding accommodation for the doctors. The sources said the PTI government had pledged to provide a service    structure for doctors on the pattern of Punjab government. However, it has failed to fulfill its promise, resultantly causing mental agony to the doctors, which affect their performance.

The doctors have demanded a proper service structure on the pattern of Punjab, besides a proper recruitment process. This will improve health delivery to the poor and needy patients along with overcoming the shortage od doctors. The closure of northern gate near Burn Unit, Cardiology Ward and CT & MRI scan department is also irking patients, besides adversely affecting the business of pharmacists around the hospital.

The patients and pharmacists alleg that the gate, which had been opened for last 95 years, was closed by the PTI government after coming to power,creating a lot of problems for them. Now most of the people cross the iron gate by climbing on it and resultantly many of them sustain injuries, they claim.

The people and patients have requested the PTI Chairman and the government to take cogent measures to improve health delivery in the hospital and resolution of problems as the party was voted to power
for its “slogan of change”, which is now nowhere in sight.