KHAIRPUR: Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar after witnessing the pathetic condition in Civil Hospital Khairpur suspended the services of the Director Finance and ordered the transfer of the Medical Superintendent of the hospital and ordered an overall inquiry into the hospital affairs.
The CM accompanied by his principal Secretary Hassan Naqvi and Secretary Health Dr Mansoor Rizvi paid a surprise visit to the Civil Hospital to witness the condition of different wards, labs, and radiology and interacted with the patients present there, according to a handout issued on Wednesday.
In the emergency, the female and male patients were lying on bare beds without bedsheets. There was no segregation for male and female patients. The beds were lying here and there and there was no oxygen, monitors and even nebulisers were out of order and were lying on the floor with multiple layers of dust rusting them.
To a question, the MS told the CM that there were no lady doctors on duty in the emergency and there was only one lady doctor who was called to the hospital `on call.’ This enraged the CM, and he warned the Medical Superintendent of the hospital to behave like a doctor and administrator of the hospital. “How can you allow such a mess, mismanagement, unprofessional attitude in a hospital where more than 3000 patients visit regularly,” he said and added the hospital was a 550-bedded facility but being run like a dispensary.
Justice Baqar visited radiology and inspected the Dark Room where X-rays were being processed in a pathetic and dirty condition. It seemed to the CM that the room had not been cleansed ever since it was commissioned.
The CM checked the laboratory of the hospital which had good equipment but some of them were out of order and no effort was not taken to fix their issues. The CM visited the pharmacy, where no appropriate record of the medicines being given to the patients was maintained. A private pharmacy was operating inside the hospital premises against which the CM directed the Secretary health to get it sealed.
The interim CM visited the kitchen of the hospital where he was told that food was being prepared for 350 patients. As a matter of fact, the kitchen was like ab abandoned room where cooking had not been made for long.
The Medical Superintendent and Director Finance failed to show the expenditures of the hospital incurred during the last few months and they had no record of the doctors present on duty and on leave. Therefore, the CM placed the services of the Director Finance under suspension and ordered the transfer of the medical superintendent.
Govt Naz School: The Chief Minister also visited historic schools- Government Naz Secondary High School established in 1906. The condition of the school building was precarious. The CM noticed that the enrolment was over 900 hundred but the presence of the students was around 70 per cent [of the enrolment.]
The lab and the library had no electric lights and even there was no stock of books. The washrooms of the schools were completely choked and electric water coolers were out of order. The CM expressed displeasure and directed the Deputy Commissioner to restore the glories of the historic school established over an area of 48 acres.
The school has a beautiful garden but it was not maintained properly. The CM summoned the XEN of the building and directed him to renovate and overall, the school building within a month, otherwise face an inquiry.
GIMS: The Chief Minister also visited Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) and inspected its requirements, inventory, patents aid system and overall expenditures of the hospital.
The CM directed the Director GIMS to reconcile all its accounts with the Finance and Health department so that its Rs2 billion deficit could be controlled. It may be noted that the Sindh government gives Rs6 billion grant to GIMS annually.
Earlier, the CM went to Darazan Sharif where he laid a floral wreath on the mazar of Hazrat Sachal Sarmat and offered fateh.
