Islamabad.
Pakistan’s Punjab province CM Maryam Nawaz has decided to suspend the medical staff of Multan’s Nishtar Hospital. Actually, HIV infection has spread among the patients in the dialysis department of this hospital. This is the reason why the CM has suspended many staff members, including the head of the Nephrology Department of the hospital, on charges of negligence.
The investigation revealed serious negligence in infection control protocols in the hospital, due to which HIV infection spread among the employees undergoing dialysis in the hospital. Maryam Nawaz has taken action against various senior officials including the Medical Superintendent of the hospital. The employees against whom action was taken include Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Kazim, Ghulam Abbas (Head of Nephrology Department), Poonam Khalid (Associate Professor), Mohammad Kadeer (Senior Registrar), Maliah Johar, Mohammad Alamgir (Medical Officer of Nephrology Department). And head nurse Naheed Parveen is included. Investigations have revealed that even after HIV cases were confirmed, the hospital staff tried to suppress the cases, due to which the infection spread further.
Other hospital employees came out to protest against the government’s decision
Investigation has revealed that disposable kits used for dialysis staff were being used in many patients, due to which HIV infection spread among kidney patients. The second negligence was that the senior doctors and staff of the hospital did not visit the dialysis department for several weeks. After the matter escalated, Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz visited Nishtar Hospital and expressed displeasure over the serious negligence. He also directed the Health Secretary to take strict action against the culprits. However, after suspending the hospital employees, other hospital employees expressed their displeasure and also protested against this decision of the government.