[author image=”http://hunzanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Dr-Sadia.jpg” ]Dr.Saadia khan Department of paeds medicine Children hospital and institute of child health Multan. [/author]
Collapsing Health system——- A wake UP CALL.
I had a chance to meet a family that came from England for visiting their parents. Their three year old daughter was patient of diabetes mellitus, became sick and admitted at ICU.
Her mother astonished to see our health set up, number of doctors and our duty hours; she started comparing it with health system of England.
This discussion raised a question in my mind;
Why we only follow fashion of abroad?
Hope all of us still remember the fever of famous Turkish drama and how it change the dressing of almost more than half of Pakistani girls.
Why we not copy their health system. Why we not invite their doctors and health administrators in spite of inviting their actors and actresses
Just take a glimpse over government hospitals of Pakistan
Emergency department.
Two to four doctors on duty, 2-3 staff nurses,10 to 12 beds, 40 or more patients sharing8-10 beds and oxygen points, large number of attendants. Emergency often looks like a fish market, in such circumstances what level of care for patient we aspect.
Outdoor.
Long lines in front of opd and people misbehaving for their turns.
Each doctor has to look after more than 100 patients during 6 hour duty.
Wards.
Stuffed with patients and attendants, often extra number of patients over single beds.
At the level of tertiary care units we are dealing with simple cases like diarrhea and RTIs that can be easily managed at their home towns.
Why a child with malnutrition travel all the way from Baluchistan to Multan for treatment or why a child with pneumonia came to Multan all the way through DIK. Can anyone can imagine the miseries they faced while travelling or cost they paid? Why there is no proper referral system in our country? Who is referring patients from one city to other? Why there is no check on referring?
All doctors are overburdened; they are dealing with thrice or more number of patients than they are supposed to do. What performance you expect from a doctor who is checking 150 patients or more in 6 hours morning duty at OPD and have to do long duty of 24 hours either at intensive care unit or ward after that once or twice a week according to seniority.
THERE IS NO CHECK OVER SO CALLED DOCTORS OR QUACKS, WHAT THEY ARE PRESCRIBING NO ONE KNOWS, THERE IS NO RATIONALE OF THEIR TREATMENT.
I have seen the prescription with four inject able antibiotics at a time or prescribed powdered milk over it along the advice to stop the mother feed. Why there is no check on such people, .why there is need of private clinics in our country only, why not in countries that are more populated than us?
For God sake Wake up for your rights, we have to stop blaming one another and everyone have to believe that to bring light and prosperity, every one of us has to burn our own candle. In spite of making fuss at emergency or wards they have to go to hospital admin or their elected MNA and MPA that made a lot of promises with them before elections.Admin of hospitals have to send real facts and figures to Government rather to send the report of ALL IS WELL., so that they realize how worse the situation it ,and what is our current requirements regarding health.
Government has to take action over it seriously, termination of 1 or 2 hospitals MS, or on duty doctors at special event that took hype is not a solution.
Media have to show the problems of people they are facing at hospitals in spite of just showing reports against doctors.
Why people not consider health as priority over bijli, rotti, makan,,nokari..Why anyone of us protest as we often do, against our health system , how government know our problems if we not tell them because they are getting news of all is well and media is busy in showing doctors as killers rather to highlight flaws and problems of our health system.
It’s time to wake up for your rights before it gets too late. Hope for the best.
