Covid-19 unit at ASH faces closure for want of funds

KARACHI: Amid the growing number of coronavirus cases with Karachi emerging as a key hotspot urban centre in the country, a 100-bed Covid-19 Infectious Disease and Research Centre at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) is feared to close its operation after less than a month it became functional as the local administration has failed to meet its financial commitment for the specialised unit of the third largest hospital of the city, officials and sources said.

Fears ran high among family members of the patients, who were being treated at the hospital — six of whom were on ventilators battling for life against the pandemic — seeking support from the authorities so the unit could continue its operation which was mostly benefitting those living in low-income areas. Dozens of Covid-19 patients being treated at the facility were facing serious threat of discontinuation of the services amid growing financial crisis, they feared.

“The Covid-19 Infectious Disease and Research Centre (IDRC) at the ASH was initially established in July 2020 and it took a month to upgrade the facility,” said a source privy to the details of the unit and current status of the affairs at the facility. “In August 2020 it was formally inaugurated by then mayor Wasim Akhtar. And finally it became fully operational on Nov 24 after the Karachi administrator formally inaugurated the centre. Since then the patients are coming here daily and being admitted for free treatment. The centre has 75 staff members, including doctors and other health workers, serving round the clock.”

There are 25 ventilators in the hospital, he said and added that the facility had also 50 beds with BiPap machines, which was considered one of the most crucial facilities for Covid-19. It offered support to those infected persons who had trouble breathing, as this machine could help pump air into their lungs, he said.

In July Federal Minister Asad Umar had visited the facility and promised that he would help resolve its financial issues

“Right now there are several patients being treated at the hospital and six of them are on ventilators. As the number of cases increases, there are strong fears that more patients would need ventilator support,” he added.

So what went wrong in the process that had pushed the crucial health facility to a situation where it is near its closure and at the time when the second wave of the pandemic is becoming a serious challenge for the health authorities? The sources said that the local government hospital started the huge operation less than a month back on commitment of funding from the administration, which it never fulfilled.

“All tests, treatment and medicines are supplied free at the hospital,” said another source. “The hospital didn’t have funds to carry out the operation so an arrangement was made with a welfare organisation of undergraduate students of the KMDC [Karachi Medical and Dental College] which runs different operations for underprivileged patients. It was decided that the Karachi administration would repay the cost being borne by the welfare organisation. The student welfare organisation has been conducting labs for the patients and supplying medicines from its facilities. After nearly a month, the hospital has failed to pay to the organisation even a single penny of the hundreds of thousands of rupees it has spent.”

It doesn’t end here. The local government hospital is facing serious human resource issues on the other hand where a large number of its doctors and other health workers have not been receiving salaries for the last few months. Even protest by the doctors and assurances from the authorities — both local and federal — have failed to fix the issue during the pandemic.

“In July 2020 Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar along with then Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar had visited the Covid-19 Infectious Disease and Research Centre at the ASH,” he said. “He [Mr Umar] had publicly promised that he would take it up with the authorities concerned and that the financial issues of the hospital would be resolved. It’s so unfortunate his promise also fell short of meeting the expectations.”

He said that doctors and health workers across the country were receiving extra financial benefits through healthcare allowance to serve during the coronavirus pandemic. In Karachi, he said, they were even deprived of the salaries at the ASH and there was hardly any for them to get the healthcare allowance for their services to Covid-19 patients.