By Our Staff Reporter KARACHI - The indoor and OPD patients of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) continued to suffer on account of non-availability of medicines and major diagnostics facilities. According to sources, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital’s administration has been facing multiple challenges in managing the affairs of the health facility merely because of paucity of funds. Asked if the situation prevailing at the health facility was in the knowledge of higher-ups of KMC, under whose umbrella the hospital was functioning, the sources said `of course’, but they (KMC bosses) seemed least interested in addressing the issues being confronted by the hospital and its patients. “Will you believe me that the situation in the hospital has gone so worst that medicines are not available even for the patients visiting its emergency department,” the sources remarked, claiming patients with emergency requirements were now being referred to other public sector hospitals as there is acute shortage of medicines. They also claimed that the hospital’s MRI and CT scan machines have been lying out of order since long as funds required for getting them repaired are not available with the hospital’s management. “Except for X-ray machines, the other essential diagnostic gadgets of the hospital are either not available or functioning properly,” they added. Moreover, certain departments of the health facility, including Radiology, Cardiology, Urology, Plastic Surgery, Burns, and Neurosurgery, are on the verge of closure due to shortage of specialists and consultants. The sources regretted that although Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan during his recent visit to the hospital had ordered for providing proper health care facilities to the patients, the concerned authorities seemed least interested in the plight of the patients. However, Medical Superintendent of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Dr Azfar Moid, when contacted, said the governor’s directives regarding health facilities were being implemented in letter and spirit and much improvement will be visible anytime soon.
