LALAMUSA City News

Lalamusa govt hospitals lack facilities
From Rafi Bhatti
LALAMUSA: Lack of facilities in the Lalamusa government hospitals is forcing the patients to visit private hospitals.
There are four hospitals - Trauma Centre, Maternity Hospital, Civil Hospital and Rural Health Centre – in Lalamusa, but all are facing shortage of facilities and doctors. The Trauma Centre has been short of 29 staffers, including neurosurgeon and medical specialist, for the last five years. Its operation theatre is also non-functional as the post of the anaesthetist has been lying vacant for the last years.
The Trauma Centre is situated on GT Road in the middle of Islamabad and Lahore. Several accidents take place in the area but the victims are referred to Kharian hospitals due to lack of facilities in the Trauma Centre while the patients in critical condition are referred to the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Hospital in Gujrat.
The Maternity Hospital is functioning without the gynaecologist after her resignation sometime ago and the patients are forced to visit private hospitals, which are very costly.
There is no generator in the Rural Health Centre to operate X-ray machine and other equipments during the power loadshedding and the patients have to wait for hours during the loadshedding.
A water turbine was installed at a cost of more than Rs 1.8 million in the RHC about six years ago but it could not be made functional so far while the machinery is rusting away. People have demanded the government look into the matter and provide missing facilities in the government hospitals to solve problems of the patients.
When contacted, Trauma Centre incharge Dr Muhammad Akram admitted that they were facing the shortage of staff. He, however, said that they were doing their best to cater to the needs of the patients. RHC incharge Dr Naeem Janjua said that they were doing their best to provide facilities to the patients. Gujrat Health EDO Ijaz Haider did not attend his mobile phone despite repeated attempts.