The outpatient departments and main operation theatres at the allied hospitals will remain closed from Sunday to Wednesday (August 19 to August 22) in connection with Eidul Fitr holidays. However, accident and emergency departments and emergency OTs of all the three teaching hospitals would be operational as per routine.

During Eid holidays, the emergency departments of the allied hospitals including Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Holy Family Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital would also serve as the OPDs and would accommodate the OPD patients visiting the hospitals.

The administrations of Rawalpindi Medical College and the allied hospitals claimed to have prepared duty rosters of the staff to be on duty at the hospitals during Eid holidays.

“The OPDs and main OTs at the allied hospitals will not operate from Sunday to Wednesday while Eid holidays for the RMC students would be from Saturday to Wednesday,” said RMC Principal and Incharge Allied Hospitals Professor Dr. Mohammad Mussadiq Khan while talking to ‘The News’.

He added that the allied hospitals would be operational during Eid holidays for emergency and indoor patients while special arrangements have been made to further strengthen the emergency departments.

It is important that the emergency departments of the allied hospitals receive significantly heavy influx of patients during Eid holidays every year mainly because most of the private hospitals and clinics do not offer their services on Eid.

“The duty rosters of the staff including doctors, paramedical and nursing staff for Eid days have been prepared and circulated,” said BBH chief Dr. Asif Qadir Mir while talking to ‘The News’. He claimed that according to policy, senior registrar level doctors would remain available in all departments of the allied hospitals while consultants including professors would remain on call during Eid holidays from Sunday to Wednesday.

It is important that every year on Eid, the bed occupancy in wards of the allied hospitals becomes less than 50 per cent as almost all stable patients leave the hospitals to spend Eid days with their dear ones at homes. “A good number of in-ward stable patients who want to spend Eid holidays with their families are allowed to leave hospitals. However, serious patients would remain admitted in their respective wards and would be attended as per requirement,” said Dr. Mir.

He said that the main OTs and OPDs at the allied hospitals would be non-functional from Sunday to Wednesday. However, in case of some serious surgical procedures; the main OTs of the hospitals may be made operational during Eid holidays.

The main medical stores of the allied hospitals would remain closed during Eid holidays. However, the hospitals claimed to have arranged sufficient quantity of medicines for emergency departments.

The allied hospitals have been following disaster management plan under which sufficient number of emergency kits remain available to the emergency departments, said Dr. Mir.