No doctor available at hospital

The Government Mozang Hospital (GMH) is without a medical officer while the corridor benches are occupied by sleeping men.
Surprisingly,X-ray machine, medical store and offices of the doctors were closed on Friday.
Three wards (25 beds) hospital had only four diarrhoea patient while only one nurse was on duty.
The GMH is just a stone’s throw away from the residence of the Provincial Health Minister Dr.Tahir Ali Javed and is the only public hospital in the vicinity of the densely populated area of the Mozang Adda and Hameed Nizami Road.
The hospital includes a dentist, gynaecologist, anaesthetist, paediatrician, medical superintendent, deputy medical superintendent and the rest are the medical officers apart from quite a large number of lower staff.
According to duty roster, Dr. Azam Ramazan, also Assistant Principal Medical Officer (APMO) should have been on duty but he was neither found in the hospital nor the GMH staff or the medical superintendent Dr. Iftikhar Alam had any knowledge of his whereabouts.
’He has gone out without my knowledge though I have given him a few verbal warnings to stay in the hospital during his working hours’,he said.
When asked about an emergency case and the non-availability of a doctor, "I live inside the hospital premises and I can be called at any time, though it is the responsibility of the duty doctor. Moreover, we have on-call doctors round the clock," he said. When contacted, Dr. Azam Ramazan told that he had gone to the car mechanic after he had an accident a few days back.
According to Dr. Iftikhar Alam, this hospital receives 200-250 patients daily and provides Outdoor Patients Department (OPD) services alongwith emergency treatment.
‘The required staff is not here as we have only one lab technician, an X-ray technician,a pharmacy man who are on duty from 8 am to 2 pm. For the rest of the day, these facilities are not available though our dispensary is available round the clock’,he said.
EDO-Health Dr. Hafiz Abdul Qayyum said doctors should have been available and their absence cannot be excused.
On staff shortage, he said, "This is a problem of the province. Despite constant reminders to the concerned department we have not been to fill the vacant seats."
Last week, a local shopkeeper Muhammad Latif was taken to the GMH after he had heatstroke but on-duty doctor asked Latif’s accompanying fellows to take him to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
They do not want to treat people.The govt has raised a huge infrastructure here, but the medics are not interested in dispensing treatment to people. Most of the people of this area go to the nearby private hospitals because they are certain that they will not get the treatment at the GMH. The govt must either mend the medics ways or close it down, said Qazi Riaz Hussain.