Inspection proves last straw for DHQ chief

The DC, accompanied by the District Health Officer and assistant commissioners, also raised concerns over sanitation, drinking water, patient facilities and the availability of emergency services. He said the toilets were in such poor condition that patients and attendants could not use them and warned that inadequate cleanliness had turned the hospital into a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

He further alleged that patients were not being provided bedsheets or meals and claimed that contaminated subsoil water was being supplied at the facility., emergency services were also unavailable after evening hours. The inspection took a more contentious turn when the DC entered the hospital's locked record room and found that expenditure records were unavailable.

Hospital management later been sent to the Director General Health Services Sindh in Hyderabad for audit, but, he said, even photocopies could not be produced. The DC gave the medical superintendent 10 days to rectify the shortcomings identified during the inspection.

Medical Superintendent Dr Maryam Rukhsana, however, strongly objected to the manner and timing of the inspection and expressed her anger before the media before tendering her resignation. Dr Rukhsana alleged that the DC's staff and police prevented the evening shift from leaving the hospital and stopped night-shift employees from entering.

She said the record room remained locked in the evening after the relevant staff had left, explaining why the records could not be produced during the inspection. Defending the hospital's sanitation, she questioned whether government hospitals could realistically maintain "executive" standard washrooms.

She also highlighted a severe staffing shortage, saying that 93 of the 234 sanctioned posts at the DHQ were vacant, mainly among technicians, dispensers, janitors and other support staff. Despite the shortage, she said, hospital employees were repeatedly assigned outdoor duties, including the upcoming three-day Ramapir festival, polio campaigns and other public-health activities.

The medical superintendent further alleged that her refusal to engage in bribery - either taking or offering it - was one of the reasons behind the difficulties she faced.

The dispute drew a response from the Pakistan Medical Association, with Dr Muhammad Zaman Baloch urging Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho on Friday to take notice of what he described as the DC's humiliating treatment of healthcare workers.

Dr Baloch alleged that DHQ doctors and staff were harassed for several hours and defended Dr Rukhsana's efforts to improve hospital services despite shortages of staff and resources. Tando Allahyar, located around 38 kilometres from Hyderabad, has a population of 922,012, 2023 census, making its DHQ Hospital the district's principal public healthcare facility.