PIMS surgeon gives patient three years for operation

ISLAMABAD: While the Capital is ready for Rs42 billion Metro Bus service in next few days, its largest public sector hospital is asking patients to wait up to three years for their important surgeries as it is unable to cope with the pressure of the thousands of patients from the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and adjacent areas.
Recently, 45-year-old Muhammad Khameed was asked by Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) to limp for 34 months as his broken leg can only be operated upon on December 6, 2017.
“I was shocked to read the date of my surgery. How can a poor worker with a broken leg wait for three years for the surgery,” Khameed asked, rhetorically.The prescription slip of Khameed, a copy of which is available with The News, mentions date of surgery as 06/12/2017 advising him to take one month rest before the surgery. The slip is signed and stamped by Dr Ali Akhtar, Associate Professor at Orthopaedic Surgery Department of PIMS.
The patient, an employee of Punjab Highways Department was originally brought to PIMS on February 15 with severe leg injury after a road accident in Murree. Initially, his leg was fixed after a surgery, but, later, it was disclosed that the bone could not attach properly as the position of bone was changed.
“After the X-Rays, the doctors told me that they will have to conduct surgery again, but they told me I have to wait for three years for the operation,” Khameed told The News.
“When I argued about the date of surgery, the hospital staff advised me to go to a private clinic of the same surgeon and get the urgent service on payment of Rs80,000” Khameed told sobbingly. The poor patient was moved out of hospital with a limping leg and shattered hopes.
He said even his own department, Punjab Highway, did not bother to help him in his treatment despite the fact that he was hit by a car in the line of duty.When contacted, a spokesman of PIMS Dr Waseem Khawaja said sometimes patients get long dates as the hospital is over-burdened.
“We are regularly facing 7,000 to 8,000 patients at Out Patient Department (OPD), and it is not possible to cater to the needs of every patient in time,” he said.The chief executive of PIMS and Vice Chancellor of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Professor Javed Akram, also argued that the facility is over-burdened but claimed that case of Khameed could be unique as the doctors may wanted to wait until a specific time for medical reasons.
“Only one hospital cannot provide quality medical services to the entire population of twin cities. We need three to four more hospitals in Islamabad as the last hospital was built 25 years ago,” Dr Akram said.
While asked about a recent notice of Federal Ombudsman about faulty equipment in the hospital, the PIMS executive director said the CT-Scan and MRI machines are functioning but there is shortage of ventilators in the hospital.
Recently, PIMS was in the headlines after the tragic killing of its head of Cardiology Department Dr Shahid Nawaz, who was shot in the head in the parking area of the hospital.Reportedly, the CT-Scan machine was not functioning and ventilator was not available at PIMS for late Dr Nawaz, who critically injured.
Such is the sorry state of affair at PIMS that even the family of Dr Nawaz decided to move him out of the hospital and taken him to a military run hospital in Rawalpindi.Even the Federal Ombudsman (Wafaqi Mohtasib), Salman M Faruqui took cognizance of the reports regarding the mal-administration in PIMS, constituting a six-member committee to conduct a thorough study about the functioning of the institute.