OPDs, main OTs at all public sector hospitals to remain closed during Eid days Muhammad Qasim

Rawalpindi: The outpatient departments and main operation theatres at all public sector hospitals in the district shall remain closed from Wednesday to Sunday as there will be public holidays from April 10 to 13 for the offices operating six days a week as per notification issued by the Punjab government.

However, during holidays, the accident and emergency departments and emergency OTs of all hospitals including the three allied hospitals in town, Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Transplantation, Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology and tehsil headquarters hospitals operating in all tehsils of the district would remain operational as per routine.

During Eid holidays, the emergency departments of the allied hospitals including Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Holy Family Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital along with RIUT would also serve as the OPDs and would accommodate the OPD patients as per routine, said Principal Rawalpindi Medical College and In-charge Allied Hospitals Professor Dr. Jahangir Sarwar Khan while talking to ‘The News’ on Monday.

He added the emergency department of medicine units of HFH, at present operating in RIUT, would also follow the same protocol. The administrations of Rawalpindi Medical College and the allied hospitals have already prepared duty rosters of the staff to be on duty at the hospitals during Eid holidays, he said.

He added that all the departments of the allied hospitals would be operational during Eid holidays for emergency and indoor patients. Special arrangements have been made to further strengthen the emergency departments in all hospitals, he said.

It is worth mentioning here that the majority of the private hospitals and clinics do not offer their services during Eid holidays and as a result, the emergency departments of the allied hospitals have to receive a significantly heavy influx of patients during Eid days.

The allied hospitals have made all the necessary arrangements at the emergency departments to cater to the needs of even greater number of patients as compared to routine and we hope that all the patients visiting the allied hospitals would be accommodated properly, said Professor Jahangir.

He said that according to the policy, senior registrar level doctors would remain available in all departments of the allied hospitals while consultants including professors would remain on call during Eid holidays.

It is important that every year on Eid days, the bed occupancy in wards of the allied hospitals becomes less than 50 per cent as almost all stable patients leave the hospitals to spend Eid days with their dear ones at homes. The in-ward stable patients who want to spend Eid holidays with their families would be allowed to leave hospitals however, according to allied hospitals’ administrations, serious patients would remain admitted in their respective wards and would be attended as per requirement.

According to the RMC principal, the main OTs at the allied hospitals would not function from Wednesday to Sunday, April 10 to 14, however, in case of some emergency, the main OTs of the hospitals can be made operational during Eid holidays. It is important that the allied hospitals follow a disaster management plan under which sufficient numbers of emergency kits remain available to the emergency departments even during the holidays.