GUJRANWALA:
The emergency, outdoor and indoor and cardiac departments of DHQ Teaching Hospital have been closed for 5 months for repairs. While the completion date for finishing repairs has been postponed three times, the work is yet to be finished. While, the new date for completion has been set as 30 June. As a result, citizens are forced to seek treatment in private hospitals and clinics, despite DHQ Civil Hospital was a source of affordable treatment for the 25 lakh urban population of Gujranwala and the residents of hundreds of neighboring villages.
In November 2023, five departments of DHQ Civil Hospital were decommissioned for repairs. Later, all the departments including Emergency, ENT, Ophthalmology, Respiratory and Thoracic, TB, Orthopedic, Paediatrics, Maternal and Child, Radiology, Cardiology, Urgent Diseases, Gastroenterology, General Physician, Kidney and Bladder, and Surgery –in-door and out-doors– were shifted to the hospital adjacent to the medical college in Gondlanwala. This too proved to be an inconvenience for the people. The caretaker government and the district administration had claimed that all hospital departments would be restored by February 4, 2024, however, this did not happen. Next, the government and medical college administration had given a date of March 31 to restore the hospital departments, which also did not result in completion.
Now, citizens have to travel 17 kilometers for treatment and pay Rs500 to rickshaw pullers to go to the medical college. The district administration had claimed that a local transport route would also be allocated and shuttle service would be run to go from the city to the medical college. However, both the claims have not formalized yet.
Besides, shifting patients so far is a painful exercise, the date of three months later has been given again and the hospital is still closed. People suffering from heart, orthopedic, mental diseases cannot go that far and are forced to get treatment in the private sector by taking heavy loans.
In this regard, Principal Gujranwala Medical College Professor Dr. Raqbal Dogar said that C&W has been asked to speed up the work. The C&W team has visited the hospital and informed about the situation. According to latest updates, the date of June 30 has been given, but efforts will be made to transfer cardiology, radiology and other departments as soon as possible.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2024.
