KARACHI: The Sindh Health Department and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation have ignored numerous other lethal diseases while combating the coronavirus as more than 12, 000 elective surgeries have been postponed since the start of the lockdown in the province.
The delay in treatment and operations has put a score of lives in danger in Karachi. Major Karachi hospitals, including the Civil Hospital Karachi, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases, National Institute of Child Health, and others have postponed routine surgeries for an indefinite time period due to the COVID-19 emergency.
Sources at the KMC and the Sindh Health Department informed that around 400 minor and major surgeries were performed each day in Karachi’s hospitals. However, only 80 to 100 surgeries are being conducted every day as compared to the past.
An administrative official at the Civil Hospital Karachi noted that about 25 to 30 surgeries are being done in the hospital as compared to an average of 150 in the past. The number of operations in the JPMC, ASH, and other hospitals have also decreased as compared to routine days.
The ratio of cardiac and pediatric surgeries has also reduced in the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and National Institute of Child Health since March 20, 2020. KMC-run hospitals are also facing a similar situation since the beginning of the coronavirus emergency.
-DN Report
Dr Muattar Hanif
The author is Editor at Dental News Pakistan and can be reached at newsdesk@medicalnewsgroup.com.pk
