ISLAMABAD: The ad-hoc system at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has been blamed for the deaths of at least four patients over the past two days due to suffocating heat, said hospital doctors who also organised a protest on Saturday.

These patients were brought to the emergency department for different health issues, including heatstroke, but they passed away after their condition aggravated due to a non-functional air conditioning system, the doctors claimed.

They also protested the suffocating heat at the hospital, which was `killing the patients and also making it impossible for doctors to work` at the emergency department. Some of the attendants also fainted due to the heat.

Later, the doctors held a meet-ing with the executive director (ED) but were disappointed to hear that the issue could not be addressed at once.

Moreover, X-ray films were not available in the hospital due to which patients were advised to take snapshots and show them to the doctors. However, majority of patients, who came to the hospital from far-flung areas, lacked smartphones.

ED`s spokesperson Dr Mubashir Daha said efforts were underway to address the issue as existing air conditioners of emergency were disconnected due to the `heating, ventilation, and air conditioning` (HVAC) system which would be installed by June 30. He said the issue of shortage ofX-rayfihnswouldbeaddressed.

A doctor,whohasbeen deputedto the emergency department of the hospital, wishing not to be quoted, said that the stifling environment at the emergency department was compounding the medical conditions of patients and during the last 48 hours four patients had died because of this factor.

`I believe that all four of them could have survived if the air conditioning system of the hospital would be functional. Because of the suffocating heat, it was next to impossible for the patients to breathe,` the doctor said, adding, `Currently, even a healthy person cannot spend an hour in the emergency department. One should imagine what would be the situation of patients.

He said that on Saturday morning doctors protested against the situation in front of the adminis-trative block and later they were called by the management which informed them that they should cope with the situation as efforts were being made to get the HVAC system at the earliest.

`Unfortunately we don`t have a permanent executive director at Pims due to which things are not being streamlined. The adhoc system has been killing the patients,` he said.

According to a doctor, at least 70 ACs installed in the hospital were removed during the past few years to install the HVAC system.

During the protest, doctors asked the management to recover these air conditioners which had gone missing after their removal.

Another doctor said the air conditioning was not functional in departments such as emergency,ICUs, and other wards. `Because of the ad-hoc system there is no one to take a stand to resolve issues of thehospital,` he said, adding that heat wave aggravated complications of patients.

`The hospital also lacks X-ray films due to which a number of patients are told to get a snapshot of the X-ray from the screen and show it to the doctor, but a large number of patients and their attendants lacked smartphones, he said.

`It is unfortunate that the largest hospital of the city is lacking a cooling system,` he said, claiming that urine culture and blood picture tests were also being discouragedbecause ofalackofkits.

ED`s Spokesperson Dr Daha said Public Works Department was installing the HVAC system and `one can imagine how public sector departments work`.

`Unfortunately, the majority of existing air conditioners have been removed to install the new system,` he said, adding that the HVAC system would be installed by June 30 as per the PWD`s deadline. Dr Daha said against the requirement of 700 films on a daily basis, the vendor only provided 500 x-ray films.

`So around 200 patients are advised to take snapshots of the X-ray to show the results to doctors.

The filmsarenot availablebecause LCs (Letter of Credit) were not being opened.`-Ikram Junaidi