Doctors for one patient on one bed

LAHORE

Different organisations of doctors have accused that Punjab Health Department for responsible 'for the worse state of affairs in government hospitals' resulting in tragedies with the patients, and said entire blame of the failure of health services was put on doctors.

“Seven top bureaucrats have virtually occupied the Health Department for the last five years, causing a complete breakdown of health services, and the bureaucracy was trying to privatise the health sector to cover up its own failure,” said the office-bearers of Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Medical Teachers Association (MTA), Young Doctors Association (YDA), Punjab Specialists Association (PSA), Health Managers Association (HMA) and Pakistan Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP) in a press statement issued here on Thursday.

The doctors gave deadline of 15 days to the government for implementing the long-awaited policy of one-patient-one-bed, otherwise, they warned, they would be forced to take any direct action.

They demanded the government stop 'making mockery of health services' by forcing three patients on one bed in all emergency wards in government hospitals to prevent the incidents like death of Zohra Bibi at Jinnah Hospital. They demanded that inquiry report of Zohra's death be made public.

They said the death of the woman, patient of diabetes, renal malfunction and hypertension, Zohra Bibi, was caused due to shortage of beds and had nothing to do with any negligence or incompetence of the doctors. They condemned the suspension of doctors on duty in the hospital and said the punishment was unjustified.

PMA Lahore President Prof Dr Ajmal Naqvi, MTA General Secretary Dr Ehsan-ur-Rehman, YDA General Secretary Dr Ealtamush Kharal, PAFP President Dr Tariq Mian, PSA General Secretary Dr Nazar Murshad, Dr Shahid Shahab and others castigated the alleged campaign against doctors by the bureaucracy and alleged that bureaucracy had been implementing its agenda of privatisation of health sector and to achieve this purpose they had already divided the department into two sections.  

They warned that character assassination of doctors community would not be allowed under any pretext of malfunctioning of health sector.

The doctors announced that they would issue a white paper on the incompetence and failed policies of Health Department and failed policies of government. Doctors demanded that government must hand over the Health Department to senior doctors instead of making it an experimentation ground of incompetent bureaucrats to prevent the loss of precious lives of patients.