HEALTHCARE
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is planning to pass a bill through the provincial assembly for prohibition of violence against healthcare service personnel and prevention of damages to property in healthcare institutions.
According to the proposed act, offenders may receive prison sentences up to three years and may be fined up to Rs50,000 while being liable to twice the actual amount of damage to the hospital property. Safeguarding doctors, nurses, paramedics and other professionals working in the hospitals from violence perpetrated by agitated attendants of patients during emergencies, is a wise step. However, the government also needs to ponder over the root causes of this unruly behaviour so that violent acts against personnel and property of the hospitals can be prevented in the first place. A patient friendly environment in the hospitals will obviate the need for application of the laws.
Our patient population by and large is illiterate. Majority of the people are unaware of the system of hospitals and relevant matters. Therefore, it is a must for all big hospitals to have public relations officers/ counsellors or social workers to properly counsel the patients and their attendants in any serious situation. Similarly, overpopulation is also an important factor. Due to high volume of inpatients and outpatients in the hospitals in the provincial metropolis, doctors are unable to properly counsel the patients and their attendants during emergencies.
The lack of an organised and properly staffed public relations/ counselling office at big hospitals is a major reason that information is not dissipated to the families or attendants in an emergent situation. This is particularly true when a patient dies at a hospital, the unavailability of proper counselling services and information results in the attendants getting angry and then physically abusing hospital staff and property. A law and order situation is thus created.
In the hospitals of provincial capital Peshawar, many such attacks on staff have taken place in almost all governments and especially during the last three and a half years tenure of the PTI-led provincial government. That is a matter of great concern and needs special attention of the authorities concerned.
The provincial government claims very proudly that it has reformed the health system by taking special steps and adopted measures of international standards. However, still it has ignored the service of patient information at all government teaching hospitals in the provincial metropolis.
At present, three big teaching hospitals in Peshawar; the Leady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital, and Hayatabad Medical Complex, don’t have departments of social workers or counsellors. Similarly, in other government hospitals of the city and many districts, there is no proper setup for providing these services.
In the current system, public relations mean sharing information with media only. Due to this trend, a big gap has been created between the medics and public. These hospitals have only one or two officers who issue press releases about routine activities and emergencies.
However, media and protocol, and public relations departments are different from each other. Media and protocol department is concerned with sharing information and defending the policies and prestige of the organisation through media, while a counsellor or social work office is required to bridge the gap between medics and public with polite and easy to understand information during emergencies. This will overcome the communication gap and help build public trust. Despite the importance of these services at hospitals the provincial government seems ignorant about it.
Dr Arshad Rehan, a renowned cardiologist practicing in the USA, when contacted said the role of counselling could never be overemphasised. He explained, “Properly informing and counseling patients and families is must in any hospital. The doctors providing services should interact with the patients and families and explain the treatment processes and prognosis. While the doctors have the primary responsibility of informing patients and families, they might be busy with providing emergent care and it is this crucial period in which a social workers or counsellor really becomes important. They should be able to sit with the family, provide counselling with a general overview of the situation while keeping in touch with the doctors treating the patient.”
He further said, "Spiritual counselling provided to the distressed families by chaplains or priests is also invaluable in such situations.”
It is hoped that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will review its policies about the structure of the hospitals by adding departments of patient counselling or social work. Well-educated, soft-hearted and polite people should be appointed as counsellor or public relations officers (PROs) to maintain the relationship between public and healthcare service persons. At least every department of the teaching and big hospitals across the province should have a PRO. They should be trained with modern and advanced courses to meet the needs of the community.
Dr Saqib Siddique, a well-known psychiatrist practicing in Peshawar, said, “It is very important to start counselling services at hospitals as patients need psychological and social support too. Apart from treatment of the diseases, a patient should be treated as a whole, not just the diseased part according to bio-psycho-social model.”
He further said, “Many incidents of conflicts at hospital will decrease if informational care on patient condition and possible hospital stay services available and prognosis are shared with the patient and attendants with empathy and good communication skills.”
The writer works as a staff reporter with Daily Jang in Peshawar
