CDGK Health Group of offices’ claim for 24-hoiurs OPD unrealistic

Why accident and Trauma facilities worldwide?

December 28, 2010
By Irfan Aligi

KARACHI: The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) Health Group of Offices has on Dec 14 announced all major CDGK hospitals would continue catering to the ailing fraternity visiting these hospitals round the clock. However, the round the clock OPD theme failed to emboss any fruitful affect on both the medical facilities and the patients. However, the 24-hours OPD has proved ineffective due to operations and financial difficulties, Daily Times has learnt.

In this regard, well-informed sources told Daily Times that for instance, the largest medical health facility within CDGK’s domain, the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) on which CDGK has spent more than 900 million and all latest medical diagnostic facilities have been established under single roof.

Nonetheless, the ASH has also come under tremendous turn out of patients, which has increased from around 500 OPDs to around 5,500 in a day. This situation also caused spending of hefty funds to meet the regular expenses, added the sources.

The idea was only fabricated to attract momentary applaud and to manifest that the new management of the CDGK Health Group of Offices had magic solutions to all problems, commented the sources, adding that the idea of charging just Rs 5 from patients so as to guarantee provision of all the required diagnostic and medical and surgical facilities could not work because it had involved giant amounts for the successful operations.

The sources were of the opinion that this situation could be examined with some cumbersome facts that the Medical Superintendent has been released Rs 20 million under Local Purchase (LP) facility every year to arrange for medicines and other goods in cases of emergency and sudden shortage of necessary medicines.

Unfortunately, the beaurocratic red tape culture has prevailed in the CDGK Health Group of Offices as the Executive District Officer has kept all powers while the MS who spends around 16 hours in the field facing all types of problems could not buy medicines worth more than Rs 2,000 in a day. It is also a fact that the MS could only spend Rs 2,000 from LP on patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU) while those in medical of surgical wards do not have access to that LP facility, said the sources.

Sources said that recently, the federal government started releasing annual Zakat fund to ASH worth Rs 10 million from July 2009, which also remains a special jurisdiction of the MS but still he was not authorized to spend any amount at his own discretion except the EDO could decide how much and when the money would be spent.

Sources added that the round the clock OPD claims were not applied to CDGK’s largest health facility, the ASH because its Accident and Trauma Departments (ATD) work round the clock.

It was a befooling step that the round the clock OPD was started at the ASH and in fact it had nothing to do with the entire situation. The OPD at the ASH only works from 8 am to 8 pm. The medical and surgical OPDs have to shift to ATD after 8 pm, said the sources. Adding that only certain routine medicines could be provided to the visiting patients except those lying in ICUs.

Round the clock OPD was not possible anywhere in the world and if it was feasible, then the concept and facility of the A&TD should be wound for good, claimed the sources.
However, ASH Deputy MS Clinical Dr Najam claimed that the OPD was working at the ASH round the clock and there were no paucity of the required medicines.