Had the same incident occurred in some other country, it would have made front-page leads and led to a national outcry. But we are a people that are almost immune to the loss of life of our own citizens. This is what we saw at the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar on Saturday night, when six patients died due to a failure in the supply of oxygen and a decline in oxygen levels available to them. According to a report by the Board of Governors of the hospital, the problem arose because there was insufficient oxygen in the supply system of the hospital and no backup to deal with the problem. There have also been reports that the oxygen vendors for the hospital had not been paid in time and therefore oxygen was not being provided in sufficient quantities. A major problem appears to also have been the lack of training of staff on duty and their failure to point out the problem in due time. This contributed to the tragedy faced by the families of the patients, six of whom five were Covid patients while one was a child.
We have seen similar incidents occur at hospitals across the country over the last many years. People have died due to negligence, lack of infrastructure and medical incompetence in cities like Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Peshawar; and the situation at smaller hospitals in rural areas can only be imagined. It is also ironic that the board of governors at the Khyber Teaching Hospital had for seven or eight years been chaired by Dr Faisal Sultan, now adviser to the prime minister. The PTI government had promised when it came to power that it would focus on two major areas health and policing. But healthcare has only continued to deteriorate.
At the Khyber Teaching Hospital, the director of the hospital has been changed. But Taimur Jhagra, who holds the additional portfolio for health, has said this is not sufficient and that more measures are required. Essentially, we need to revamp our hospitals and set them up once again on more modern lines. This can happen only if our VIPs use these facilities rather than travelling abroad for treatment even for trivial illnesses. It is also true that while the elite make sure they themselves have well-maintained health facilities at their disposal, there has been a criminal lack of attention to delivering even basic facilities to the impoverished who use government hospitals. For them there is only suffering and very often death. Despite the multiple incidents we have heard about, over the years, under every government, there’s been no change and the present government seems no different.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/755771-medical-tragedy
Medical tragedy: edit in The News, Dec 9, 2020
Had the same incident occurred in some other country, it would have made front-page leads and led to a national outcry. But we are a people that are almost immune to the loss of life of our own citizens. This is what we saw at the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar on Saturday night, when six patients died due to a failure in the supply of oxygen and a decline in oxygen levels available to them. According to a report by the Board of Governors of the hospital, the problem arose because there was insufficient oxygen in the supply system of the hospital and no backup to deal with the problem. There have also been reports that the oxygen vendors for the hospital had not been paid in time and therefore oxygen was not being provided in sufficient quantities. A major problem appears to also have been the lack of training of staff on duty and their failure to point out the problem in due time. This contributed to the tragedy faced by the families of the patients, six of whom five were Covid patients while one was a child.
We have seen similar incidents occur at hospitals across the country over the last many years. People have died due to negligence, lack of infrastructure and medical incompetence in cities like Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Peshawar; and the situation at smaller hospitals in rural areas can only be imagined. It is also ironic that the board of governors at the Khyber Teaching Hospital had for seven or eight years been chaired by Dr Faisal Sultan, now adviser to the prime minister. The PTI government had promised when it came to power that it would focus on two major areas health and policing. But healthcare has only continued to deteriorate.
At the Khyber Teaching Hospital, the director of the hospital has been changed. But Taimur Jhagra, who holds the additional portfolio for health, has said this is not sufficient and that more measures are required. Essentially, we need to revamp our hospitals and set them up once again on more modern lines. This can happen only if our VIPs use these facilities rather than travelling abroad for treatment even for trivial illnesses. It is also true that while the elite make sure they themselves have well-maintained health facilities at their disposal, there has been a criminal lack of attention to delivering even basic facilities to the impoverished who use government hospitals. For them there is only suffering and very often death. Despite the multiple incidents we have heard about, over the years, under every government, there’s been no change and the present government seems no different.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/755771-medical-tragedy
Published in Pak Media comment and Pakistan