LAHORE: More than 1.2 million patients were denied treatment in the 44 tertiary care hospitals in Punjab during a month-long strike by employees against the government's plan to enforce the Medical Education Institutions Ordinance (MTI) .
The figure appeared in the analysis conducted by the Department of Specialized Medical Care and Medical Education that worked on the data and revealed them after protesters resumed their duties at health centers throughout the province on Friday.
"The analysis was prepared by data entry operators and health department officials based on reports obtained from the heads of medical and dental institutions during the 30-day strike of doctors, nurses and paramedics," he said. An official Dawn.
Government seeks action against 65 PG trainees; writing a new rotation policy to transfer senior doctors from Lahore
He said that most of those who did not receive treatment were people from the poor segment of society and most of them were forced to receive treatment in private health centers.
He said the health department had sent a list of 65 postgraduate trainees to the Pakistan College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSP) to take action against them for interrupting health services. Of these, he said, the names of four PGs were sent two days ago to the CPSP, which convened its meeting of the disciplinary committee in Karachi in the next few days to make a decision on the future of these doctors.
During a meeting on Friday, he said, health officials reminded Professor of Vice Chancellor of the University of Medicine of Fatima Jinnah, Professor Aamir Zaman Khan, that he should guarantee action against PGs in light of the recommendations sent by his Department. The official said the health department had called Professor Aamir to attend the meeting because he is the CPSP board member.
The official said that on a routine day, an average of 8.1 million patients visit OPD daily and internal government departments that teach Punjab hospitals. However, the number was reduced to approximately 50 pcs and in some hospitals that are considered the strength of young doctors, to approximately 30 pcs.
Only hospitals such as Mayo Hospital, Gujranwala Hospital and, to some extent, Nishtar Hospital, Multan remained functional during the one-month strike of the employees. Initially, Mayo Hospital worked almost completely when its administration handled the treatment by replacing additional doctors in DPOs and interior rooms, he said. However, the strike movement gained momentum when the health department ended up with some of the doctors who protested during the last week or so, which led to the closure of the OPDs and the interior rooms of the Mayo Hospital.
The Cardiology Institute of Punjab was one of the health centers where a low proportion of patients were reported. During the analysis, the figures obtained from the PIC showed that it registered a maximum of 240 patients in the OPD on October 28 during the strike against the average number of 1,000 on a routine day.
On the other hand, a small-scale hospital, Said Mitha Hospital Lahore, treated 1,393 patients the same day in the OPD, showing the impact of the strike in the mega hospitals of Punjab and the suffering of poor patients.
Mayo Hospital registered the highest number of patients, 5,432, the same day. There were 1,698 at the Hospital de Servicios, another strength of the young doctors.
The official said that striking doctors would cover the cameras with pieces of cloth or tapes before closing the rooms. They managed to install DVR in hospital control rooms and removed the recordings, he said.
He said the role of some senior doctors was also discussed at meetings of the health department.
The official said the SH&ME department had decided to draft a new rotation policy to transfer some senior doctors from Lahore to the other districts of the province, especially south of Punjab, for "indirectly supporting" the strike.
Published on Dawn, November 9, 2019
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1515716/12m-patients-denied-treatment-during-strike-in-punjab