LARKANA:The B Scan machine of Eye Department of Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) is dysfunctional since last several weeks and despite information to the Medical Superintendent (MS) it has not yet been repaired and made functional for the benefit of the poor patients of more than 12 districts of rural Sindh who arrive here from remote areas to get eye operations.
All patients are asked to get the B Scan test from private medical centers who are doing roaring business. Two CMCH B Scan machines went out of order which too have not yet been repaired and the third was procured by the Ophthalmology Department doctors through contribution which also became dysfunctional within six months which shows the rush of patients that arrive here to get eyesight mostly in old age.
15 to 20 operations are made daily and lenses are fixed but now Operation Theater remains open only for emergency purposes, patients attendants alleged. Most of the poor patients who cannot afford cost of the lenses are provided lenses out of Rs: 20 million Zakat budget which is released to the CMCH in two equal instalments annually. This department has no proper boundary wall hence thefts have become common. Hundreds of ailing patients attend it’s OPD daily who reach here not only from far flung areas of upper Sindh but also from Balochistan. Most operations are carried out during winter season because, according to surgeons, wounds get healed quickly.
When CMCH MS Dr Ali Gohar Dahri was contacted he alleged that instead of shouldering responsibilities, the Professors of Eye Department believe in allegations. He said he has already told them to get the machines repaired and get payment from him. He said very soon the machine will be repaired by engineers of Karachi.