Doctors forced to attend coronavirus patients without PPE, stipend in Pak

Doctors and post graduate trainees at several hospitals in Pakistan's Sindh province are forced to attend coronavirus positive patients without personal protective equipment, and some of the them have not even received their stipend, according to a media report.

The worst affected health facilities include the state-run hospitals in Sukkur and Larkana, the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) and the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in Karachi and the two teaching hospitals, one in Hyderabad and the other in Jamshoro, attached with the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Dawn reported.

Citing unnamed doctors, the paper said that they were facing a lot of problems at work, severely affecting their mental health as well as the quality of their work.

A house officer posted at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital said not a single doctor had been provided the personal protective gear by the hospital.

"We got some from non-governmental organisations. These days, we are holding filter clinics instead of OPDs. Of the 500 to 1,000 patients who daily report at the hospital, some 50 are suspected of having the coronavirus and referred to government-designated hospitals," she was quoted as saying the paper.

She also said that they have not received their stipends for the last three months. "The issue has been brought to the knowledge of the administration multiple times, but to no avail, she added.

The batch of around 250 house officers at the ASH had also closed down the outpatient departments in protest sometime back, she added.

She said the hospital had not yet cleared dues of the batch which had left the facility and were now working as postgraduate trainees at other facilities.

Another doctor, a postgraduate trainee at ASH, said that while they had been getting their stipends regularly for some months, the administration had not paid their eight-month dues yet.

"The pending amount varies between Rs 200,000 and 600,000 depending on the time of one's induction, she said.

Citing sources, the paper said both house officers and postgraduate trainees at the JPMC had not been paid stipends for the last three months and the previous batch had not received their arrears.

The situation at LUMHS hospitals located in Hyderabad and Jamshoro were no different.

"We haven't been paid for two months now. It has been like this since I joined as a postgraduate trainee last year. But what's more critical right now is to work without food and tea for hours, a doctor rued.

All restaurants were closed due to the lockdown and the hospital administration prepared food only for in-house patients, he said.

"Some of us are working in the quarantine. How could you ensure quality work with an empty stomach? he said.

Dr Umer Sultan, representing the Young Doctors Association-Sindh, said that postgraduate trainees in the districts of Sukkur and Larkana had not been paid stipends for 13 months.

On the availability of personal protective gear, he said: It's in short supply everywhere. Doctors at some private hospitals are being asked to buy the equipment from their own pocket. Unfair distribution of PPE is also causing a shortage."