The Lyari General Hospital (LGH), a provincial government-run healthcare centre, is moving towards a complete collapse due to unavailability of machines, specialised doctors, surgeons and paramedics.
The dilapidated building of the hospital, defective water and sewerage system, ghost employees, expired machinery both the laboratory and life saving, lack of proper electrical system, non-functional operation theatres, unavailability of standard drugs, lack of alternate energy system, absence of security guards and closure of Planning and Works Department (PWD) is leading the public sector hospital towards a complete collapse, a brief visit on Friday revealed.
The hospital was established in 1984 and since its inception the management has not paid heed towards repair and renovation works of the building due to which the roof of the whole building is crumbling and falling, which can cause harm to anybody's life. The sewerage water is leaking from the corners of the rooms due to which the doctors and paramedics avoid to sit in their cabins.
The workers told that the provincial government allocated billion of rupees for the maintenance and renovation purposes from 1984 to 2009, but the management has not spend a single penny to repair the dilapidated structure. The higher authorities to appease their favourite people had awarded tenders worth million of rupees for repairing, but none of them have completed their assigned work.
There is no water and sanitation system existing in the hospital due to which the contaminated water of the toilets and other wards have adopted alternative routes and accumulated in the wards, laboratories and operation theatres. The faulty network of sewerage system and decomposed sewerage lines is spilling dirty water of the toilets and laboratories creating unhygienic conditions in the hospitals.
The main issue of the hospital is unavailability of specialised doctors, surgeons and paramedics, which is considered as the key for diagnosing and treatment of the visiting patients. On government records, the hospital is functioning in three separate shifts, but there was no paramedic present in the public healthcare institution after 2pm. The whole administration is enjoying the facility of double salaries, but not a single employee was present in the evening and night shift.
A huge list of the ghost employees revealed that there was no ENT, paediatric, surgical and medical professors, RMO, skin specialist, ECG technician, OT technician and medical officer in the hospital. When investigated it was disclosed that the government had employed all the necessary staff, but some of them do not visit the hospital on daily basis or some of them are working in private hospitals and taking double salaries.
The specialised doctors and surgeons like skin specialist Agha Fareedan, Incharge Medical Ward Professor Dr Zaman Sheikh, Medical Officer Arsalan Ahmed Sheikh and other paramedics like ECG Technician Aftab Pirzada, OT Technician Ali Haider and even the gatekeepers are not attending the hospitals for many years and drawing monthly salaries on regular basis by showing fake records.
There are three lifts in the main building of the healthcare institution and all of them have developed some fault a decade ago and could not be repaired despite many calls from both patient and paramedics. The deputed lift-men remained absent from the hospital throughout the year and doing another job besides receiving salary from the hospital due to the negligence of the authorities concerned. Continuous spilling of contaminated water from the roof ceilings has made the electrical system of the healthcare institution dysfunctional and the electrical wiring at many wards has been separated from the top roof. The tube lights, fans, air conditions and refrigerators in different wards and various laboratories have developed a fault due to unavailability of proper electrical system in the hospital.
The patients and paramedics complained that the government is providing substandard locally manufactured drugs to the hospital and most of them are expired or rejected during quality assessment in different government laboratories. Bicycles and auto rickshaws on daily basis deliver the medicines supplied to the healthcare institution. There is also no storage system for these drugs.
Lab technician Muhammad Shamshad said the electrical system of the only Bio Chemical Laboratory has been completely destroyed due to leakage of sewerage water and the costly machines like haematology analyser and cold storage equipment have developed some fault due to continuous load shedding. The department has written application to the medical superintendent for providing stabilisers to save the remaining machinery, but the department has yet to receive the facility, he added.
When this reporter visited the physiotherapy department, he saw the department has turned into a shelter for the animals, as there was no paramedic present in the department. All the exercise machines have developed a fault and there was no facility for the physiotherapy patients. The hydrotherapy swimming pool in the department remained dysfunctional due to lack of paramedical staff.
There are four operation theatres in the hospital out of which three had stopped functioning due to lack of specialised doctors and surgeon, which are needed for performing surgeries and all the patients are referred to the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) for medical treatment. Only one operation theatre is functioning for performing gynaecological surgeries while others are referred to other hospitals.
A blood transfusion service namely Sindh Blood Transfusion Service (SBTS), an institution established primarily for regulating blood banks and safe transfusion of blood in the province is also working in the hospital, but unfortunately the service instead of ensuring safety has now become a centre for unsafe blood transfusion.
The purpose of blood transfusion service was to strengthen public and private sector blood banks, training of the pathologists, giving guidelines for safe transfusion, safe storage of blood, conducting research on blood medicine and providing education to the postgraduate medical students, but after the creation of Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (SBTA), it has become non-functional. Now, both the Sindh government and City District Government Karachi (CDGK) have refused to own the service after the establishment of SBTA.
The details of the instruments available in the blood service are as follows: one cryofuge, five blood bank refrigerators, three freezers, three refrigerators, one autoclave, two centrifuge machines, one chemical analyser and a cell separator. Amazingly, none of the above mentioned machinery is in working condition and could not be repaired even after passing of a decade.
The centre is providing services to the patients without proper instruments and machinery, which can cause different blood diseases among the donators and recipients during transfusion. There is also an acute shortage of blood medicines like anti-sera and other blood bank utility accessories like blood bags, tooth pricker, disinfectants, blood film staining and other glassware items.
A well-established security system is the need of the hospital and a large number of patients and paramedics do no visit the hospital due to fear and prevailing law and order situation. There is no monitoring system in the healthcare institution and the security guards remain absent from their offices the whole year.