Minister visits HFH working out temporary solutions

Rawalpindi : The Federal Minister for National Health Services Aamir Mehmood Kiyani visited Holy Family Hospital again on Wednesday evening as a follow up visit to the prime minister’s surprise visit to the hospital late Monday night to discuss solutions to the problems, the PM has pointed out in delivery of services to the patients.

The minister met with Vice Chancellor of Rawalpindi Medical University Professor Dr. Mohammad Umar and visited various departments of the HFH in the company of Dr. Nasir Mehmood who has taken additional charge of the seat of MS on Tuesday.

The health minister was informed that the hospital has been facing severe shortage of space for years and patients have to suffer the most at paediatrics and gynaecology wards, said Dr. Umar while talking to ‘The News’ on Wednesday.

He said the health minister has also been informed that the RMU and HFH administration has been sending PC-1 to the provincial health department for construction of new wards at the paeds and gynae departments for the last three years consecutively but received no positive response. We have given a PC-1 to the federal minister too requesting him to help the hospital on the subject of provision of adequate funding to resolve the issue of shortage of space, said Dr. Umar.

He said the minister has also been informed that to create proper space for the hospital departments, the old block is needed complete renovation. The allied hospitals have been working for decades and no extension plans were properly followed to accommodate the ever increasing load of patients, he said.

He said he also informed the minister about budgetary constraints, the RMU and allied hospitals have been facing for years. The hospitals have also been facing severe shortage of staff for years and I informed the minister about it too, he said.

It is important that the federal health minister was accompanying the PM during his visit to the HFH on Monday and the PM expressed his concerns on keeping two to three women patients on a single bed at gynaecology ward.

Dr. Umar said he informed the federal minister that the hospital is readjusting wards to overcome problem of shortage of space at paeds and gynae wards. We are arranging beds and taken space from dengue ward as the season for dengue transmission has come to seasonal end, he said.

When asked, he said there is no other option at the moment except for seeking temporary solution to the problem of shortage of space. I informed the minister that proper funding is needed to overcome problems of shortage of space, staff and equipment, said Dr. Umar.

Meanwhile, a committee constituted by Secretary to Punjab Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department comprising senior officials of hospitals and the SHC & ME Department that was supposed to visit RMU and allied hospitals on Wednesday to identify the operational, technical and management issues pertaining to patient care did not reach RMU till filing of this report, on Wednesday evening.