IN a tragic incident which shocked the entire nation, seven coronavirus patients died at the Khyber Teaching Hospital Saturday night due to lack of oxygen. A spokesperson of the hospital also confirmed that the oxygen is supplied from Rawalpindi which did not reach on time, leading to the death of the critically ill patients.
This indeed is a criminal negligence and it should not go unnoticed and unpunished. Whilst the provincial government has ordered inquiry into incident and action against responsible persons within forty eight hours but it must be ensured that the buck is not shifted only to the lower staff only as is seen in such cases rather those sitting at the top must be taken to task as it is their responsibility to ensure provision of all necessary facilities and equipment at the hospital. The current Board of Governors should be abolished and it should be replaced with new and capable faces. The question arises as to why there was no backup of gas cylinders especially at a time when the burden on hospitals is increasing with each passing day due to rise in Covid-19 patients. PTI government takes the credit of bringing major reforms and improving the health infrastructure of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but this awful incident has also raised question marks on its claims. Whilst the facts of the inquiry report should be made public, the provincial government must take the requisite steps to avert such an incident in future. A mechanism should be evolved to ensure proper monitoring of healthcare facilities being provided to the patients at the hospitals. Undoubtedly the people must observe the SOPs to avoid the spread of the virus but the federal and provincial governments are also duty bound to ensure proper facilities including provision of all sorts of equipment at the hospitals for the patient care in these testing and critical times. Any negligence in this regard will risk the people’s life and further shake their trust in the public sector facilities.
