Islamabad - Doctors at Burn Centre at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) are having a hard time dealing with massive flow of burn victims coming from all parts of the country.
Mehboob Shah, the resident of a village in Gujar Khan, told this agency that he brought his son to the Burn Center after he could not get treatment at Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi.
His 19-year old son was admitted at the PIMS Centre for 89 per cent burn injuries a few days back and was in critical condition. His son, who was already disabled with a leg broken in an accident, fell on the fire burnt for cooking at home. The youth got the admission at PIMS after initial refusal due to rush of patients. The centre has only a 20-bed facility and many times has to deny admission to patients.
An official of the hospital said patients preferred to be admitted in PIMS Burn Centre because of free-of-charge treatment here while Rs20,000 to Rs25,000 per day was charged by burn centres at other hospitals.
The burn centre at PIMS was established to treat victims of the Federal Capital, but the facility had been receiving burn patients from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir, he added.
Amir Muqam, Advisor to the Prime Minister, got admitted five burn victims of a coal mine collapse in Orakzai Agency on Tuesday.
He complained that he brought the patients after finding no suitable treatment for them at the hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Habib, father of one and a half years girl, told that her daughter was getting satisfactory treatment for 20 per cent burn injuries. The girl, who came from rural area of Bara Kahu of Islamabad territory, fell in a big cooking pot placed on a stove.
A family of four from Rawalpindi was also admitted for severe burn injuries caused by gas leakage. Inam, one of their relatives, complained that they were denied treatment at Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi.
Many of the burn victims admitted at PIMS are later referred to other burn units in the country after initial treatment because of non-availability of beds.
According to the hospital official, transfer to other centres caused problems for patients because of lack of treatment facilities and trained staff there.
He said due to lack of state-of-the-art burn facilities elsewhere, the burn victims have to travel to the Federal Capital all the way from every nook and corner of the country. Delay in treatment caused many deaths, he added. The official said provinces should upgrade their facilities for burn victims to ease pressure on PIMS.