Shahbaz Sharif directs inquiry of PIC medicine catastrophe

Shahbaz Sharif directs inquiry of PIC medicine catastrophe

Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz has directed a judicial inquiry of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology’s (PIC) medical catastrophe that has killed 85 people, so far.

According to the unofficial reports, more than 100 people have died due to the reaction of medicines distributed by PIC.

Consequently, the Chief Minister Punjab has also fired the provincial health secretary, Muhammad Jahanzaib and the chief executive, Dr. Azhar along with the other high ranked officials of the PIC. CM Punjab dismissed these officials from their duty after
the examining committee gave in its findings.

The committee was headed by Najam Saeed, who stressed that the hospital management did not fulfil their duties wholeheartedly and as a result, dozens of people have died.

An accomplice at the meeting told Express Tribune that, “Punjab government has moved the Lahore High Court officially to request a judicial inquiry into the incident.”

On top of that, the dual model of the hospital staff, one for the poor and other for the rich – being practised at the hospital, was also questioned. It was also noticed that the ones who died in the medicine disaster did not had sufficient money.

It was also revealed that PIC categorises its patients in four categories, the poor, the entitled, general users and paying patients.

On the condition of anonymity, a PIC spokesperson said, “The patients in the poor category in some cases get a time for primary angioplasty after six to eight months.”

“A heart patient might pass away if put on hold for such a long time. In the entitled category, government employees are treated for free but they are also made to wait a long time in many cases. In the general category, patients pay half the charges and
the other half are paid by the hospital. Paying patients are the VIP category. A paying patient is operated on urgently, even if a patient in poor category has waited for surgery for months,” he added.

A government employee expressed that PIC is the only hospital in Punjab, where public doctors turn into private doctors after 3pm. He also questioned the competency of PIC by saying that of all the 109 patients who died, none of them was a rich one.

Furthermore, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has also decided to go to the court regarding the dual system at PIC.

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Posted by Mursil Mehmood Butt on Jan 30 2012. Filed under Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry