Islamabad, Jan 2 (IANS) Shortage of funds has obstructed functioning of Mardan children hospital in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local media reported on Friday citing officials.
Speaking to Dawn, officials said that wards remained functional in the OPD of hospital while work was still being conducted on the main building supposed to provide all specialised services. The officials said that the project required government funds.
According to officials, there was shortage of beds as three to four children suffering from flu and pneumonia complaints were adjusted on one bed. At times, the officials said shortage of supplemental oxygen adversely impacted patient care.
The officials said the government had approved a children hospitals having capacity of 200 beds on the premises of Mardan Medical Complex (MMC) in 2011 and it was supposed to become operational by 2014. They said that civil work of three floors was completed with installation of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems while the 50-bed children and 45-bed nursery units at MMC were overburdened due to large number of patients coming there for treatment, Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported.
They said the deadline for completion of work had kept changing in the past, however, the hospital was still not operational. The officials stressed that hospital needed government's attention as majority of work had already been completed.
Meanwhile, government hospitals in the city of Hyderabad in Pakistan's Sindh province continue to struggle to provide even the basic healthcare facilities to patients due to acute shortage of medicines, diagnostic facilities and functional medical equipment, majorly due to alleged poor oversight by officials of the health department, local media reported.
As per reports, Civil Hospital Hyderabad and all taluka hospitals in the city do not have essential medicines. Patients are unable to undergo routine laboratory tests at taluka-level facilities due to lack of basic machinery, resulting in patients being forced to undergo treatment in private hospitals and laboratories, where they are asked to pay thousands of rupees for preliminary check-ups, another leading Pakistani daily 'The Express Tribune' reported.
The situation has deteriorated to the extent that the trauma centre constructed on Hala Naka Road has remained non-operational, causing burden on Civil Hospital Hyderabad, where patients come in large numbers for treatment from across Sindh. However, Civil Hospital itself is having non-operational equipment and inadequate treatment facilities.
Currently, Civil Hospital Hyderabad has only one MRI and one CT scan machine operational, while other diagnostic machines have remained non-operational for months. Situation at taluka hospitals in Hyderabad is reportedly worse as facilities like Sindh Government Bhittai Hospital Latifabad, Government Hospital Qasimabad, Kohsar Hospital Latifabad, Government Hospital Pretabad and Government Hospital Hali Road and several basic health units lack testing facilities and essential medicines, the newspaper report detailed.
--IANS
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