PESHAWAR: Advisor for Health Ehtesham Ali inspected the Nahaqi Satellite Hospital located on Charsadda Road. He reviewed the duty roster, attendance register and medicines while listening to the problems of the patients.
The consultant expressed concern over incidents of mismanagement including absenteeism and presence of expired medicines in the hospital. He directed the administration to suspend the Medical Superintendent (MS) and Women Medical Officer (WMO) and initiate a departmental inquiry.
The consultant lamented that there were no lab or x-ray technicians available and the absence of a gynecologist for a needy patient made the situation more dire. Ehtesham Ali expressed deep concern about the state of government hospitals, saying: “If our government hospitals are in such a state of disrepair, how can we expect them to regulate coxes and private clinics?”
“These hospitals are deserted at night, which increases the burden on the major referral hospitals in Peshawar. If someone comes to the hospital at night, they are referred only to Lady Reading Hospital.
Expired medications were discovered in emergency cabinets, raising questions about hospital preparedness and management. Meanwhile, while reacting to social media reports regarding the absence of Health Department officials from the KP Assembly Standing Committee on Health meeting, the spokesperson of the Health Department explained. That the KP Assembly and its committees are of utmost importance to the department.
The spokesperson explained that all the staff related to Medical Teaching Institutions (MTIs) were present in the meeting. He added that if any staff was absent and their presence was deemed necessary, it was not intended to undermine the dignity of the parliamentary process.
It was clarified that the Secretary Health is in Islamabad to attend an important meeting related to health. Moreover, the Special Secretary and MTI staff attended the committee meeting on time. However, the Director General (DG) of Health was unable to attend due to high blood pressure.
The spokesperson reiterated that the absence of some officials was not meant to ignore Parliament in any way. He further said that both Secretary Health and DG Health have personally attended all the meetings of the committee earlier.