Journalist injured in suicide bombing shifted to expensive private hospital

Poor health delivery at LRH

PESHAWAR: Disappointed with the unsatisfactory treatment and indifferent attitude of the doctors and staff members at the Lady Reading Hospital, the relatives of injured journalist Yousaf Khan were forced to shift him to the privately-run expensive Al-Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad.

Yousaf, a journalist from Mardan, had sustained injuries in the suicide attack in the Excise and Taxation Office on April 18. He was rushed to the largest healthcare facility of the province – the LRH – where he remained under so-called treatment for six days.

However, no proper care or cure was extended to him at this purported largest and oldest public sector hospital of the province where his health condition deteriorated, his relatives complained. It was 10:20 pm on Monday night when a private ambulance shifted him to the federal capital with the hope of better treatment, though costly and beyond the capacity of his poor family.

His attendants’ complained that he was kept shifting from one ward to the other in the hospital during the last six days. They said neither any proper diagnosis of his injuries could be made not he was given accurate treatment.

It was due to the strange and uncaring attitude of the doctors and other staff members that Yousaf lost his eye and ear. “They treat us like criminals. No one even bothers to tell us his actual problem and the procedure to treat it,” said Babar Khan, his relative.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in the province never gets tired of making tall claims of bringing about a revolution in the health sector. “But our experience in this main hospital is totally different. It seems that the staff members have focused all concentration on mere papers work instead of diagnosis and treating the patients, particularly the bomb blast victims,” he argued.

“After the careless attitude of the health workers and the lack of facilities at the hospitals, we were left with no other choice but to shift our patient to Islamabad,” said Amir Zeb, the nephew of the injured journalist, who also accompanied him.

The relative observed that the condition of the injured Yousaf Khan was worsening with each passing day. Also, they were frequently asked to take the patient for every test and even X-ray to the private laboratories and diagnostic centres, mostly owned by the doctors and health workers serving in the LRH as the facilities in the hospital was either unavailable or the machines were out-of-order. “Today, we were asked to conduct three X-rays of his face. We took him in a miserable condition to Khyber Bazaar for X-ray after which blood started oozing out of his eyes,” he added.

The relative said they had been tired of making request to all and sundry to know about his actual wounds and problems, but the doctors and other staff members got offended and said they were not supposed to give explanation to every attendant.

The fellow journalists of injured Yousaf Khan under the leadership of Mardan Press Club Haji Shafi visited the LRH to inquire after his health. They also met Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai, who later accompanied them to visit the injured journalist and directed the staff on duty to take his proper care but to no avail.

Babar said: “On the fourth day of his admission in the hospital, they were shifted to Eye Ward from the Ear-Nose-Throat (ENT) Ward where they came to know that his one eye and an ear had already been lost.”

Quoting a young doctor, Amirzeb said he was on duty continuously for 24 hours and it was not humanly possible for him to take proper care of every patient in such circumstances. He said that there was not only shortage of doctors, health staff, but also facilities and medicines at the hospital. The government should focus attention on improving the worst state of affairs in the hospital, he stressed.

The government should take practical steps for overcoming the situation instead of making tall claims, he suggested. The huge burden of patients and their attendants in the hospital was another serious issue to deal with, he said.