Poor state of management at RIU

Rawalpindi : Corona Management Centre at Rawalpindi Institute of Urology that got operational four days back at full capacity according to the management had to shift as many as 13 confirmed patients of COVID-19 undergoing treatment at RIU to Holy Family Hospital in the wee hours of night between Thursday and Friday due to shortage of oxygen supply at the centre.

The 13 patients who were serious and were being supported by high flow oxygen at RIU were shifted to HFH at around 3:00 a.m. on Friday. One of the patients, Qazi Shabbir who was in critical condition at RIU died after reaching HFH. One of the 13 patients shifted to HFH in emergency was on ventilator.

It is important that the patients were shifted to HFH when in the midnight between Thursday and Friday, the RIU staff found that the hospital was running short of oxygen supply. Many senior health experts in town are of the view that the situation can be termed as a sorrow state of affairs on the part of RIU, the only specifically established healthcare facility in the district to deal with COVID-19 patients.

The Minister Health Punjab chaired a meeting on November 10 at the Civil Secretariat, Lahore in which it has been decided that COVID-19 related arrangements in RIU Rawalpindi are required to be revived at full capacity as was done in June 2020. On Saturday, November 14, the minister visited RIU and asked medical superintendent who has additional charge of the post to make RIU functional on immediate basis.

However, RIU got operational properly on Tuesday to deal with corona patients. According to RIU administration, the hospital faced shortage of Oxygen supply late Thursday evening. Oxygen was not available to us on Thursday night though we managed to have sufficient quantity of gas on Friday at around 6:00 a.m., said Additional Medical Superintendent at RIU Dr. Tahir Rizvi when contacted by ‘The News’ on Friday.

He said 12 of the 13 patients shifted to HFH were on high flow oxygen supply while one was being supported through ventilator. All these patients were serious at RIU, however the patient died after reaching HFH was a heart patient, he said.

Dr. Nausheen Mehboob who has been given additional charge of the post of medical superintendent at Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Transplantation through an order of Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department at Government of the Punjab on November 13 when contacted by ‘The News’ on Friday said the RIU has not been facing shortage of oxygen supply.

To a query about shifting of 13 patients in the wee hours of night in emergency, she did not speak a single word saying you better talk to the RIU spokesman Dr. Tahir Rizvi.

It is important that Dr. Nausheen was serving in BS-19 at BBH and she was given additional charge of the post of MS RIU that was lying vacant after retirement of her husband Dr. Khalid Randhawa on October 27.

It is worth mentioning here that there have been more than a dozen officers serving in BS-20 in health sector in the district including allied hospitals in town who fulfill the prerequisites for the post of MS though none of them was given charge of the seat of MS RIU.