PESHAWAR: The administration of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) has said that the flow of patients has dramatically increased which has made it difficult for the doctors and other staff to cope with the situation for lack of beds and accommodation.
The hospital administration officials through a communiqué said that it was usually considered a cold season in terms of seasonal diseases but they were surprised to note that the bed occupancy rate had reached 98 percent in KTH due to unprecedented rise in the number of patients.
“There is no bed available in pediatrics, gynecology, pulmonology, nephrology and orthopaedic units these days. According to established protocol, the occupancy rate should not go beyond 85 percent. In case of any emergency the hospital will not be able to cater to the needs of patients,” said the statement.
The medical director and hospital director said the bed occupancy rate should be kept from 80 percent to 85 percent so that sufficient beds were available in case of emergency and routine patients.The KTH administration has also written to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa secretary Health to take note of the unprecedented flow of patients.
The letter requested him to convene a joint meeting of the authorities of KTH, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) to devise a plan for referral of patients.
Paediatric units in KTH are always overburdened and usually two and three minors are accommodated on one bed in the hospital, particularly in nursery of the hospital where patients brought from other parts of province to HMC and LRH are referred to KTH.
The government has been spending millions of funds on the provision of health facilities in the districts but majority of the patients are unwarrantedly referred to Peshawar.
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