Shortage of pediatric emergency beds strains public hospitals in Karachi

Government hospitals across Karachi and Sindh are facing a severe shortage of pediatric emergency beds, leaving hundreds of children without timely treatment every day or forcing families to seek costly private care. Hospital administrations often cite the lack of available beds when refusing admissions.

There are just over 450 pediatric emergency beds for almost 1.9 million children under one year and more than 9.5 million children under the age of five in Sindh.

Although there is an increase in children population, there has been no significant change in bed capacity over the years. The children, who are critically ill are admitted while others are discharged after 24 hours of stay.

The Sindh health department had handed over the management of Pediatric Emergency Services to a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) about a decade back under Public Private Partnership scheme.

The NGO operates the emergency departments in six government hospitals in Karachi city and four district hospitals in Sindh. The budget documents of the province showed that it gets Rs2.40 billion every year for its services, while there is no significant change in bed capacity.

The NGO officials stated that more than 450 pediatric emergency beds are available in the ten hospitals. But the pediatric experts said that due to reduced vaccinations among the children and increased use of formula milk, childhood diseases have increased.

The problem can be seen in all the big hospitals. The Civil Hospital has 30 pediatric emergency beds for more than 100 daily patients while the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) has 68 beds, but admits over 400 children every day.

Lyari General Hospital has 30 beds, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital 35, Sindh Government Korangi Hospital 40 and Sindh Government North Karachi Hospital 10. In other parts of the city, Hyderabad has 30 beds, Larkana 60, Sukkur 35, Khairpur 35 and Nawabshah 40.

The parents stated that it is hard to get admission in emergency services of hospitals. Syed Yousuf from Saddar area said that his seven months old daughter with breathing problem is rejected by the NICH hospital on account of no beds available.

Other parents complained that the patient was rejected even without a proper medical examination and due to overcrowding in the hospitals many children share one bed.

The shortage is visible across major hospitals. Civil Hospital has 30 pediatric emergency beds for more than 100 daily patients, while the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) has 68 beds but receives over 400 children each day.

Lyari General Hospital has 30 beds, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital 35, Sindh Government Korangi Hospital 40 and Sindh Government North Karachi Hospital 10. Outside Karachi, Hyderabad has 30 beds, Larkana 60, Sukkur 35, Khairpur 35 and Nawabshah 40.