LARKANA: In the first four months of the year 2018, at least 454 newborns and children died out of the total 6,761 children admitted at the Paediatric Medicine Department (PMD) of the Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) in Larkana, mostly due to a lack of water, poor sanitation, malnutrition and inadequate basic healthcare.
Reportedly, most of the deaths were preventable and 408 newborns were shifted to private medical centers by their parents for availing better healthcare services.
The vast majority of these deaths occur in the first five years of life including 7 percent of newborn babies, according to sources, while the provincial government has not taken any effective measures to address the causes of deaths.
Meanwhile, the healthcare situation has worsened in rural Sindh followed by a significant number of deaths of malnourished children in the drought-stricken Thar.
Six ventilators procured in 2013 are lying idle and are not yet installed at the PMD.
Moreover, there are no pulse oximeters and flow meters to measure the level of oxygen in patients’ bloodstreams, which are considered necessary to detect even a slightest unsafe change.
PMD Head Prof Saifullah Jamro told Daily Times that 85 infants out of every 1,000 die before reaching the age of two years worldwide.
He said that the Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) could benefit only 30 to 35 percent of the ailing children.
He further stated that the underground water in Larkana has become highly contaminated and feared fatal waterborne diseases to surface.
District headquarters hospital (DHQs) and taluka headquarter hospitals (THQs) are nearly ‘dysfunctional’ across Sindh, forcing patients to move towards the CMCH in Larkana or private healthcare centers.
He claimed that highest numbers of newborns were being provided treatment in the hospital, even more than the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) in Karachi.
He revealed that the construction of the PMD began in 2013 but the work was not completed with a lack of required paramedics.
“Hospital premises are being used as a private taxi stand and nobody is ready to take action against it. Doctors are working under intense pressure and even there is no security available at the hospital.
A retired senior doctor, who had worked at the PMD, said that the primary causes of deaths included premature delivery, incapable lady health workers (LHWs) and untrained ‘Daees’ in remote areas of the province.
CMCH Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Ali Gohar Dahri said that no trained staffs were provided to run ventilators.
He stated that the Chief Justice of Pakistan had directed him to submit a detailed report about essential requirements of the hospital when he visited Larkana.
After it has been submitted, he said that patients were awaiting appropriate response.
He said that 140 posts of doctors from grade BPS-17 to 20 were vacant in the hospital CMCH, besides 94 posts of nurses and 238 posts of paramedics.
He said that the hospital required more doctors because new departments were established, however the sanctioned new posts (SNEs) required approval on the priority basis.
Published in Daily Times, September 28th 2018.
