Jinnah Hospital Karachi faces staff 'shortage'

KARACHI: A severe shortage of medical and administrative staff at Jinnah Hospital has put critically ill patients at grave risk, ARY News reported on Tuesday, quoting well-placed sources.

According to details, Jinnah Hospital is facing ‘shortage’ of nursing staff especially in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) wards, posing a threat to critically ill patients.

It has been learnt by ARY News that despite the availability of ventilators in the medical facility, ‘sufficient staff’ is not present to operate the machinery.

The sources said that six out of 10 ventilators at the medical ICU are operational, while only eight out of 24 ventilators at the surgical ICU are functional.

At Clinical ICU, only seven ventilators out of a total of 15, are in working condition, while at Neuro Trauma Unit, only 6 ventilators are available, out of which only1 is functional, the sources said.

They further added that the medical ICU requires 58 nursing staff, but only 8 are currently available and overall a total of 24 ventilators across the hospital remain non-operational due to the unavailability of trained staff, including consultants and nurses.

The crisis has left critical care patients vulnerable, with no immediate solutions in sight.

In June, earlier this year, Jinnah Hospital Karachi has sacked 168 employees from their jobs due to a shortage of funds.

As per details, the affected employees were initially hired on a three-month contract during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The list of terminated employees includes 33 sweepers, 36 nurses, 27 ward boys, and 18 security guards.