By By Our Correspondent
THE Young Doctors’ Association has criticised the Punjab Institute of Cardiology for not offering primary angioplasty to the poor, who report with heart attack (Myocardial Infarction) in the emergency department of the institute.
According to a press release on Saturday, YDA office-bearers, including Dr Rana Sohail, Dr Salman Kazmi, Dr Aslam Rao, Dr Talha Sherwani and others, said the poor patients, who suffered heart attacks, were registered in general category and were given streptokinase injection as a treatment.
However, they said, primary angioplasty was a quality treatment. They said if the attendants or patients insisted for a primary angioplasty, doctors asked them to change their category to private/paying patients, implying that they immediately had to pay over Rs 00,000 for angioplasty. If the patient could not arrange money, they said, the angioplasty was denied to them and they had to go through a lengthy process of Social Welfare Department in the hospital to get Zakat, which usually took several months to process their applications.
“The poor patients are not provided angioplasty even if they somehow arranged stents from their own pockets,” they added.
The YDA representatives said the PIC administration and senior professors/doctors were not allowing free angioplasty because they got shares from the money generated through paying patients.
“Each professor is earning Rs100,000 to Rs200,000 daily through shares and private practice in the hospital,” they said, adding that the private patients were provided angioplasty without any delay and there was no problem of rooms, beds, medicines, operation dates, etc., for private patients, while the patients in general category were put on the waiting list of one or two years.