Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Residents of the federal capital have demanded the authorities concerned to immediately start a full-fledged evening shift at the Out Patient Department (OPD) of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (OPD), keeping in view the patients’ burden in the morning.

Due to heavy load at the OPD in daytime and limited hospital timings, several patients, who come from far-flung areas of the country, face several problems and fail to get consultation from the doctors.

The people also complained of inadequate staff at the PIMS emergency and OPD and appealed to deploy sufficient medical and para medical staff for delivery of better services to the patients.

They said unlike medical practices abroad where one doctor examines five to seven patients in a day, here at the PIMS each doctor had to examine around 100 patients daily at the OPD.

They asked the quarters concerned to take notice of absence of senior doctors at the OPD and different wards during duty hours. Senior doctors operate their private clinics during their duty timings, which is against professional ethics and norms, while in their absence trainee doctors examine the patients at OPDs, they added.

When contacted, an official of the hospital said that the hospital was established with an aim to provide special health services to patients with critical diseases. However, the hospital had now become a major medical facility, which was visited by patients suffering from different diseases from all over the country.

He said that the hospital management was trying its level best to ensure best medical care to the patients. A sufficient number of doctors performed duties at OPDs, including medical officers, professors, assistant professors and post-graduates, he added.