Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH), Larkana administration has let the 1,150-bed hospital's only Intensive Care Unit (ICU) fall into non-functional and officials of all levels are blaming each other for rendering this highly important unit idle.
The Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, Dr Syed Mehboob Ali Shah, said that only one patient, a close relative of a doctor was admitted to the ICU six months ago and then it was closed again. The unit has been idle since 2006, sources said. It was found after visiting the unit that sensitive electronic machines and monitors worth millions of rupees were placed under dust.
It looked more like a haunted place than an ICU of a hospital, which the government planned to upgrade to a medical university. The MS and RMO said that they did receive patients who should be kept in the ICU but they kept them in other wards with insufficient facilities. No doubt, under incomplete facilities, the death rate would naturally rise, they admitted.
"We are in dire need of ICU," they said and blamed the Department of Surgery and Anaesthesia for its failure. Only one staff nurse was posted the four-bed ICU with six-bed recovery rooms but she remains in Medical Unit-III and the doctors posted at the ICU had gradually got themselves transferred to other departments.