Nishtar Hospital emergencies face severe medicines shortage

MULTAN: The Nishtar Hospital has allegedly not been giving medicines to patients in emergencies and general wards for the last one year due to unavailability of funds.

Addressing a protest meeting outside the Nishtar Hospital emergency here on Friday, Pakistan Medical Association president Prof Dr Masudur Rauf Haraj alleged that life-saving drugs were not available in the hospital and patients had to travel at least one-kilometer to purchase medicines outside the hospital.The hospital is unable to give medicines to serious patients because of lack of funds. The PMA has repeatedly written letters to Nishtar Hospital administration but all in vain. He said the current and previous administrations were responsible for the crisis of medicine shortage. He demanded the Punjab government to immediately release health budget to provide medicines to patients, he added.

Haraj said the Nishtar Institute of Dentistry was the only dental hospital in south Punjab region serving patients freely in public sector but the institute was running without a principal since long. The government is running the institute with officiating charge to a person who is sitting in Lahore. He comes to the institute only for few hours and then returns to Lahore. This temporary arrangement has suspended all the administrative affairs.

He demanded the Punjab government for appointment of permanent principal at the Institute of Dentistry and provision of teaching staff to overcome vacant positions, including five posts of professors, nine posts of associate professors and five posts of assistant professors. The temporary principal has advertised new posts of two professors, one of associate professor and one of associate professor instead of filling the vacant posts. The politically-motivated advertisement has the prime objective of allegedly recruiting the blue-eyed persons, he said.

He also demanded the provincial government for permanent affiliation of NID with the Nishtar Medical Health University (NMHU). He demanded the Nishtar Hospital administration to stop character assassination of junior doctors and review its decisions and policies.

The PMA president has demanded cancellation of doctors’ transfers of Multan Institute of Cardiology and activation of hepatitis clinic at the Nishtar Hospital. PMA general secretary Dr Rana Khawar, senior vice president Dr Tariq Waqar, vice presidents Dr Manzar Ali, Dr Murtaza Baloch, Dr Hajra Masud, finance secretary Dr Sheikh Abdul Khaliq, cultural secretary Dr Zulqarnain Haider and secretary information Dr Imran Rafiq also spoke on the occasion.