DHQ Hospital Rawalpindi With 6 Ventilators Unable To Cope With Rush Of Seriously Ill Patients

The District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Rawalpindi with six ventilators is unable to cope with the rush of seriously ill patients from the city and surrounding areas, who need life support to survive

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Jan, 2019 ) :The District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Rawalpindi with six ventilators is unable to cope with the rush of seriously ill patients from the city and surrounding areas, who need life support to survive.

A ventilator, also known as a respirator or breathing machine, is a medical device that provides a patient with oxygen when they are unable to breathe on their own Talking to APP, Raza Khan, attendant of a patient, said he had brought his critically ill brother to the DHQ Hospital, who was denied admission due to lack of beds. He had to shift his brother to a private hospital, where he was put on life support system, which cost him a huge amount. Due to financial problems, he brought his brother back to the DHQ Hospital after a week, where he was told to wait as no ventilator was available.

Many patients were already in line to be put on the ventilator while his brother was struggling for life, he added.

When contacted, Medical Superintendent of DHQ Hospital Dr Khalid Randhawa said at present the hospital had only six ventilators, while they had requested the provincial government to provide 30 more ventilators to the hospital to cope with the influx of patients.

He said a large number of patients remained in queue to be put on the ventilator. In order to save the life of their patients, relatives shifted them to some private or other government hospitals, while a large of them relied on oxygen cylinders as they could not afford expenses of ventilators at private hospitals, he added.