Presence of senior doctors at emergency depts a must

LAHORE - For the first time in the history of Health Department, the Punjab government has ordered round-the-clock appointment of senior doctors at all the emergency departments of the teaching hospitals across the province. In the past governments attempt to ensure the presence of professor doctors at the emergencies failed as senior doctors had rejected this idea due to their private practice. Though again the new instructions to make the presence of senior doctors obligatory in the emergency again have not been received positively among medical circles. But now chief minister have issued strict instructions to the Punjab health department to ensure physical presence of professors during office hours, associate professors after office hours and assistant professors during the night hours at the emergency departments of the teaching hospitals. According to a letter issued by the health department here the other day, It is expedient that the supervision of Emergency Departments is being assigned to an officer of the level of Professor. Taking serious notice of the incident of physical clash between the Rescue 1122 officials and the Services Hospital doctors, the government has decided to give the emergency departments under the supervision of senior doctors to ensure their physical presence round the clock. It is essential to put into place an effective supervisory set up which currently is lacking in the emergency departments of the most of the hospitals, which was the main reason behind the unpleasant incidents. Interestingly, there is only one health institute (Jinnah Hospital, Lahore) across the province, which made a habit of appointing a senior officer as the Director Emergency department under Strengthening of Emergency Medical Services (SEMS) Programme, the aim of which is to run the emergencies on international standards. However, most of the emergencies are still being run by junior doctors. Shahbaz Sharif had issued new instructions to improve functioning of emergency departments to facilitate the patients at emergency departments. The initiative has also been taken on the increasing complaints of mishandling of patients on the part of junior medics in the absence of senior doctors, a health department official revealed, they revealed.