RAWALPINDI: Holy Family Hospital received more than 329,000 patients in the Outdoor Patients Department and 254,566 patients in the emergency department, as the management attributed this influx to the increase in referrals from tehsil and district headquarters hospitals across the division.

After a months-long closure for renovations, the hospital became operational in August last year after its partial opening in Feb by the then-caretaker chief minister. Now, the hospital has 1052 beds, but it is insufficient in light of the patient influx.

In its annual report submitted to the Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) and the Punjab government, the hospital management saidthat the influx of patients from other cities and districts increased in 2024, as hospitals in other districts and tehsils in the division reportedly referred most cases to HFH.

The emergency department received 245,566 patients during the past year, but the volume increased only after it became completely operational in August. From February to July, the department was catering to the gynaecology and paediatrics cases. Since August, 36,000 patients have visited the hospital on a monthly basis.

As many as 8,374 childbirths were reported in the gynae department while 3,450 deaths were also recorded in the hospital.

The hospital admitted 70,922 patients over the year despite having a capacity of 1052 beds. 3,686 dengue patients also arrived in the hospital from Rawalpindi,Islamabad, and adjoining districts.

The hospital reported 9,273 pneumonia patients besides 3,524 patients suffering from flu, fever, and infection in the upper respiratory tract.

The report mentioned that the number of patients visiting the emergency room had been increasing while human resources were very limited, especially the lower support staff that needed to be increased to improve the quality of care of patients.

The ER department also needed to be upgraded to increase the bed capacity and other facilities, like operation theatres.

Shortage of staff The report said there were 1,328 posts for non-gazetted officials, out of which 177 posts were vacant.

Likewise, 729 posts were sanc-tioned for gazetted officials, but 459 posts were vacant.

According to this report, the sanctioned strength ofthe charge nurses is 482 against 962 beds, but only 452 nurses are working, while the requirement of the hospital is far above, as the total number of beds is 1052. Similarly, the sanctioned strength of head nurses is 71, but only 39 head nurses are working and each head nurse is supervising almost five departments.

Since 2015, the hospital has not made any recruitments, due to which it is facing an acute shortage of human resources, i.e., doctors, nurses, paramedical and support staff in almost every department.

A senior doctor working in HFH told Dawn that most patients arriving from other tehsils and districts were suffering from minor diseases, which could have been handled by hospitals in their respec-tive areas.

He claimed that instead of performing surgeries for common diseases, the doctors at THQs and DHQs referred patients to Holy Family Hospital.

All DHQs and THQs in the Rawalpindi division were upgraded last year and new staff, including specialised doctors and nurses, were deployed, he said, adding that medicines as well as equipment had been provided by the government.

`Rawalpindi`s three hospitals are teaching hospitals, but instead of handling complicated patients and focusing on the research work, the doctors at these hospitals are handling fever and flu patients from other hospitals,` he said.

However, speaking about referrals, District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Asif Arbab Niazi said that the Punjabgovernment had strictly directed the tehsil headquarters hospitals not to refer patients to Rawalpindi`s teaching hospital unless absolutely required.

`Over the last month, more than 400 cases referred to Holy Family Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital as the patients required specialised intensive care,` he said, adding that there were no proper intensive care units and ventilators for critical patients in the tehsils.

`Complicated surgery cases are referred to the main hospitals..., he added.

Meanwhile, Holy Family Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Ijaz Butt said that the major hospitals in the garrison city were overburdened.

He said that the HFH was revamped last year but it was still grappling with the influx of patients.