Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Lahore is facing major administrative issues as the authorities have grown weak, resulting in doctors, paramedics and the general staff creating their own lobbies to push their agendas through.
The administration has lost control over the hospital’s daily operations and the lobbies created by these different groups are in a continuous struggle to gain power. This is causing a major conflict at the hospital, resulting in patients getting subpar treatment. This situation arose a few months back, because the management at the hospital was inexperience and hence it could not aptly deal with all the administrative issues faced by doctors, staff and patients alike.
This ineptitude became even more prominent when the hospital went through an administrative upheaval because the health department of Punjab had instated a new MS at the hospital – Dr Ghulam Nabi Bajwa – which was not acceptable to the various lobbies present there. Due to this, the groups became aggressive with the new MS, inflicting physical harm.
Alongside this, in a separate incident, a senior doctor of Ganga Ram Hospital was beaten up by the driver and security guard of a lesser associate right outside the therapeutic director’s office, apparently an offer by the lesser specialist.
Most patients are no longer being treated for free, which is causing a lot of damage to patient’s health as not all can afford the treatment. This hospital has the capacity to host hundreds of patients, with 800 beds available, but they are not being consumed because of the administration’s incapable handling.
Medical staff from the emergency ward has started taking bribes and extra-money from patients to get their work done early. This is causing much distress to those patients who cannot afford to bribe.
In all this chaos, the government is nowhere to be found.
