A pregnant woman lies on a hospital bed. Source: Reuters
HYDERABAD:
Acute shortages of medicines, diagnostic facilities and functional medical equipment have left government hospitals across Hyderabad struggling to provide even basic healthcare, largely due to alleged apathy and poor supervision by Sindh Health Department officials.
According to reports, essential medicines have practically disappeared from Civil Hospital Hyderabad as well as all Taluka hospitals in the city. Even routine laboratory tests cannot be conducted at taluka-level facilities due to absence or breakdown of basic machinery. As a result, patients are forced to seek treatment in private hospitals and laboratories where they are charged thousands of rupees even for initial tests, adding to their financial distress.
The situation has worsened to the extent that the trauma center built on Hala Naka Road has remained non-functional, while large public hospital buildings have a deserted look at night. This has placed an increasing burden on the Civil Hospital Hyderabad, the only major public health facility for the city and interior Sindh, where patients arrive daily in large numbers from across the region. But the Civil Hospital itself is plagued by non-functional machinery and inadequate treatment facilities.
Hospital sources say prolonged political interference and alleged appointments to senior administrative positions based on influence rather than merit have resulted in chronic mismanagement. This has previously led to unrest among attendants and, more alarmingly, complaints related to the handover and alleged sale of newborn babies.
At present, Civil Hospital Hyderabad has only one MRI and one CT scanning machine in operation, while other diagnostic machines have been out of order for several months. Patients are advised to wait one to two months for MRI scans. In the emergency department, only first aid is provided, after which critical patients are referred to Karachi. The burns ward is in a similar situation, lacking modern treatment facilities despite having a designated ward.
Sources further revealed that even in the ICU, immediate testing facilities are unavailable, forcing patients to get tested privately. Hundreds of patients visit the hospital’s OPDs daily, but due to non-availability of government-supplied medicines, doctors often prescribe medicines to be procured from outside.
Conditions in taluka hospitals in Hyderabad are reportedly even worse. Facilities like Sindh Government Bhittai Hospital Latifabad, Government Hospital Qasimabad, Kohsar Hospital Latifabad, Government Hospital Pretabad and Government Hospital Hali Road, along with several basic health units, lack not only testing facilities but even essential medicines. Patients with serious ailments are routinely referred to the civil hospital without proper examination, while OPD patients are advised to visit private medical shops and laboratories.
