Health dept told to expedite hiring of over 500 doctors

The Sindh High Court has directed the additional secretary health to expedite the process of appointing more than 500 doctors, including 70 gynaecologists, to fill the vacant medical posts in Sindh’s government-run hospitals.

The court issued the directives to the health department on Tuesday while hearing a petition calling for the utilisation of funds for a national programme to control maternal deaths. Filing a statement before the court, Additional Health Secretary Dr Mohammad Usman Chachar submitted that requisition for the appointment of 62 gynaecologists has been sent to the Sindh Public Service Commission to fill the vacant posts in public hospitals, while the requisition for appointment of 429 doctors of specialist cadre is also pending before the SPSC.

The high court expressed concern over 95 vacant posts of gynaecologists and directed the provincial government to take steps to start fresh recruitments. With regard to the appointment of gynaecologists in Tharparkar district hospitals, Chachar submitted that the requisition for appointment of nine doctors was sent to SPSC but only one doctor has been recommended and eight posts are still vacant.

The SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar inquired from the health department officials why the vacant posts have not been filled yet. It directed the additional secretary health to pursue the appointment personally and contact SPSC to expedite the process and submit a progress report on the next date of hearing.

The court had earlier sought a report on the number of gynaecologists available in government hospitals who are trained to perform the surgery to repair obstetric fistula. The health department submitted a report mentioning that out of 147 sanctioned posts of gynaecologists in public hospitals, only 52 are filled, while 95 posts were vacant.

Regarding the establishment of fistula repair centres, the court was informed that the facility is available in government-run hospitals in Larkana, Nawabshah and Hyderabad and would be available in Sukkur within one month. The health department officer further said that in Karachi, fistula repair facility was available at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and a privately-run hospital of the petitioner at Kohi Goth.

To a court query about establishing the facility at other government hospitals in the city, he submitted that the technical team will examine the volume of reported cases of fistula repair in Karachi with consultation of the petitioners and after a proper evaluation further arrangements will be made in different government hospitals.

The secretary added that a request has also been made to the finance department for releasing of funds of Rs5.8 million for maternal, neonatal and child health programme in Sindh’s Annual Development Programme 2018-19.

The petitioners, including Dr Shershah Syed, said that around 5,000 women die during pregnancy in Sindh every year because of a lack of healthcare facilities in rural areas. They said there is a shortage of medical care facilities as well as trained staff to attend to expecting mothers and handle deliveries.

According to the petitioners, the government had launched the Maternal and Newborn Child Health Programme many years ago, however, the funds allocated for the programme were never utilised. More than 1,500 fistula patients hail from the province where a majority of government hospitals do not provide fistula repair surgeries, they said, requesting that the government be held accountable for the lack of timely and adequate treatment and violation of women’s rights to life and dignity as per the Constitution.

Obstetric fistula is a tear that develops between the birth canal and bladder or rectum usually during a prolonged labour or difficult delivery, and causes the uncontrolled leakage of urine or faeces or both. It is treatable through a simple surgery. The petitioners asked that the authorities be told to ensure access to affordable treatment of obstetric fistula to all women in Sindh. They said he government should ensure that at least one qualified gynaecologist in every district was trained and equipped to provide fistula repair surgery.

Plea for thalassaemia centres

Separately, the SHC directed the health department to file a progress report about the thalassaemia patients’ centres operating in the province with the cooperation of the Sindh government.

The directives came on the petition seeking the setting up of medical centres for thalassaemia patients in Thatta. Petitioners Mohammad Muzaffar and Mumtaz Ali submitted that more than 1,000 patients including their own children were suffering from thalassaemia but there were no medical centres in the district for their treatment.

They maintained that patients suffering from thalassaemia major needed regular blood transfusions and folate supplements but none of the facilities were available in the district and the patients had to travel all the way to Karachi to seek treatment, which not only tires them physically but also costs them financially. They requested the court to direct the government to set up emergency camps till a proper centre was established.