Lahore: Mayo Hospital patients continued to suffer from a severe shortage of medicines despite a surprise visit to the facility by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

According to details, the CM’s visit had been hoped to address the ongoing crisis, but patients and their families remained distressed, with medication still unavailable at the hospital. After the visit, the Punjab government released Rs340million for the procurement of necessary medicines.  Despite this, health minister refuted claims of a medicine shortage, asserting, “There is an ample stock of medicine available.”

In a series of significant developments, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Medical Superintendent (MS) of the Mayo Hospital were dismissed in an effort to address the hospital’s dire situation. However, despite these personnel changes, little seemed to improve for the patients, who were still forced to purchase medicines from private medical stores and conduct tests at private laboratories. In response to the crisis, the Punjab Health Department also suspended the chief pharmacist. Furthermore, the provincial government authorised the spending of funds to cover salaries, allowances and vacant positions to support the purchase of medicines.

This decision was made in an effort to resolve the ongoing shortage and ensure the proper functioning of the hospital in the near future.