A cell separator bought by the Sindh government about a year back for one of its hospitals in the city in its drive against dengue fever is turning out to be an ill-planned procurement as it has not become operational for want of accessories, said sources in the provincial health department. The machine, which the officials initially considered as "the ultra-modern imported facility', is lying idle at the Sindh Government Qatar Hospital, Orangi Town, as the government has been unable to provide the money needed by the hospital to run the machine. The cell separator procured by the government through the Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (SBTA) for Rs3 million and handed over to the Qatar hospital about 10 months back is once again attracting the attention of the high-ups and pathology laboratory staff of the hospital, at a time when the mosquito-borne dengue fever is being reported at various hospitals in the city, raising concerns about platelet bags shortage. The medical superintendent of the Qatar hospital, Dr Saif Ahmad, told Dawn that despite requests the health department had been unable to ensure supply of mega-unit platelet bags needed for the cell separator at the hospital and as such the machine remained almost untouched during the last one year or so. "The financial implication for a bulk purchase of empty platelet bags is so high that we cannot think of bearing the cost involved through the hospital's scarce resources,' Dr Ahmad said in reply to a question, adding that the computerised blood collector with various functions was essential to collection of blood components required for a patient of bleeding, such as dengue patients. A source said the provincial health department had last year sent to the high-ups a summary for an early provision of the missing platelet kits to the hospital, but to no avail. "Now not only the safety of the machine lying idle is haunting the quarters concerned but the lapse of the warranty period before any production has also become a point to ponder,' the source said, adding that the affairs reflected badly on the government's working and keenness of the authorities just to spend the amount allocated for a project, without taking into account how and by whom a facility would be run smoothly and to the benefit of the people in a real sense. Another source said that it was also considered that patients should be asked to acquire empty mega-unit platelet bags from the market and then come to hospital for blood processing. In the meantime, two more machines have been procured for two hospitals outside Karachi at a cost of Rs7 million. The government should have thought twice about a special allocation of Rs5 million to Rs6 million required for a bulk purchase of 600 to 700 empty mega-unit platelet bags before procuring such a costly machine for a government hospital, says an expert. Dr Zahid Ansari, secretary of the SBTA, said the supply of the platelet bags was never a part of the machine deal and it was for the hospital to address the issue. However, the authorities are also looking into the matter on a priority basis as the blood bags coming through the cell separator could be used for other problems of hospitalised patients in addition to its utilisation for dengue fever patients, he said, adding that some positive news would come soon. He further said that the SBTA under a previous project had very recently supplied a highly efficient cell separator each to the Civil Hospital, Nawabshah, and the Civil Hospital, Larkana, which had also been required to meet the cost of platelet bags from their own resources and to arrange the technical manpower and other resources required for the purpose. Independent sources expressed the view that patients coming to government hospitals could not be expected to pay the amount involved in the preparation of platelet bags and the government should make a blanket allocation of funds in this regard. A senior health official said that an empty platelet bag could cost Rs8,500 to Rs10,000 to a patient if purchased from a local supplier, but the cost could be minimized if the Sindh government decided to import it in bulk and supply it to the hospitals on highly subsidized rates as part of its services to the patients. In the meantime, Sindh Health Minster Dr Sagheer Ahmad has convened a meeting of representatives of private hospitals and blood banks, medical superintendents, the secretary of the provincial health department and the director- general of health, Sindh, and representatives of other organizations concerned in his office on July 29 to discuss the situation arising out of the dengue cases reporting, and finalise a strategy.