ISLAMABAD - Residents of the federal capital have demanded the authorities concerned to take notice of absence of senior doctors from different wards and Out Patient Department (OPD) of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
According to them, it has become a routine practice that senior doctors remain absent from jobs and spend their duty timings in running their private clinics.
"These doctors are habitual and now it is not possible for them to spend time in hospital as they are earning a huge amount from their private clinics," said Aslam Awan, a citizen of federal capital.
He said senior doctors operate their private clinics during their duty timing, which is against professional ethics and norms, while in their absence trainee doctors examine the patients at OPD, he added.
Kashif Kalam, a student said "due to such apathetic attitude of doctors, patients face hardships in hospital, who visit here from different cities of the country."
"They should be restricted to observe their duty hours strictly and avoid operating private clinics in duty time. There should be surprise visits from the concerned ministry to check their presence in the hospital," he added.
He also urged the concerned authorities to ensure provision of better services for senior citizens at filter clinics of PIMS OPDs, as due to lack of such facilities these citizens who come here with different health problems face several hardships.
Wasim Khan, another citizen said that there is also a need to start a full-fledged evening shift at the hospital, 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 has to examine around 100 patients daily at the OPD.
When contacted, an official of the hospital said that the hospital was established with an aim to provide special health services to the patients with critical diseases. However, the hospital has now become a major medical facility, which is 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 perform duties at OPDs, including medical officers, professors, assistant professors and post-graduates, he added.