Quetta: Angiography machines out of order in BMC and civil hospital
Syed Ali Shah, Manan Khan :
In Balochistan’s largest government-run hospitals, angiography machines are currently out of order for last more than a week. “I was forced to shift my husband to a private hospital for angiography”, Fatima Khilji, a Quetta-based lawyer said.
The angiography machine in the Bolan Medical Complex Hospital (BMCH) is out of order for almost a month. Patients remained the worst sufferers because of faulty machines. “We repeatedly visited both largest hospitals but returned without treatment”, Fatima Khilji lamented.
Coincidence or conspiracy: both machines went out of order at once
Coincidence or a conspiracy, both angiography machines went out of order at one time. “Some elements inside hospitals deliberately damage machines to force patients to pay high fees in private hospitals”, Abdul Sattar, an attendant of a patient in civil hospital claimed.
However, the Deputy Medical Superintendent of Civil Hospital, Dr. Javed Akhtar preferred not to comment on the issue. “We daily conduct thousands of OPDs but you people do not highlight that”, he responded when Quetta Voice asked for his point of view.
The patients have no option other than to go to private hospitals
The patients have no option other than to go to private hospitals. “We have paid Rs. 20,000 at a private hospital just for an angiography”, Muhammad Ali, an attendant of a patient said. He said, “we repeatedly visited government hospitals but found machines of out order”, Ali said as his voice cracks. The government hospital conducts the same angiography test is Rs. 12,000.
Balochistan had allocated Rs. 32 billions in the budget for health sector
Balochistan government had allocated Rs. 32 billion for the health sector during the budget for the financial year 2020-2021. Despite this huge amount, people continue to complain about the lack of medicines, machinery, and doctors.
Quetta Voice made repeated calls to the high ups in the health department but failed to establish any contact to publish their point of view about the out-of-order machines.
