QUETTA: Thieves took away costly equipment from the stores of the Gynaecology Ward in Sandeman Civil Hospital, leaving several women brought there for delivery to get infected with Hepatitis A, B and C.

This was disclosed by the head of Gynaecology Ward and joint secretary of the Society of Gynaecology Pakistan, Prof Ayesha Siddiqa, at a seminar organised by Save the Children here in connection with the International Hepatitis Day.

She said the government and private donors had provided the costly equipment to protect women against Hepatitis and other deadly diseases in the labour room.

Unfortunately, she added, these equipment had been stolen in the presence of the security staff of the hospital.

She pointed out that several women brought to the labour room for delivery as well as female paramedics had been infected with Hepatitis virus because of the unavailability of necessary safety facilities there.

She said the condition of the labour room and toilets of the 35-bed gynaecology ward was poor because no funds were being provided for their maintenance.

Provincial Health Minister Rehmat Saleh Baloch said that `medical mafia’ working in the Sandeman Civil Hospital and Bolan Medical College Hospital had deliberately kept the medical equipment out of order for the past seven years, leaving the patients with no option but to go to private hospitals and laboratories where the same government doctors and medical technicians did part time jobs.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2014