BAHAWALPUR-The majority of the government hospitals across the Punjab province including 23 teaching and 36 district headquarters hospitals lack burn unit facility.
Out of the total 23 teaching and 36 district headquarters hospitals, only six have burn units while two are not functioning properly. According to the official information, burn units are functional with 8 beds at Mayo Hospital, 74 beds at Jinnah Hospital, 20 beds at General Hospital, 30 beds at Services Hospital and 24 beds at Children Hospital (Lahore), 72 beds at Nishtar Hospital (Multan), 55 beds at Allied Hospital (Faisalabad), 20 beds at Holy Family Hospital (Rawalpindi), and 24 beds at Sheikh Zaid Hospital Rahim Yar Khan. But in fact, these facilities are not properly working due to various reasons.
The medical experts told The Nation at least a 50-bed fully functional burn unit is required at every district headquarters (DHQ) hospital of the province in order to reduce fatality rate in severe burn cases. Bahawal Victoria Hospital started functioning as civil hospital in 1876. It started an indoor capacity of 36 beds, an outdoor department, a dispensary and an operation theater. In 1906 this health unit was named Bahawal Victoria Hospital. Some new buildings were constructed and 40 beds were also added.
In 1950, the specialties of surgery, medicine, radiology, gynecology, pathology and ophthalmology were established. In 1971, the bed strength was 425 and now 1,515 serving a large number of patients in the southern Punjab as well as northern Sindh. The burn unit was approved to be established at Bahawal Victoria Hospital in 2009 which could not be established so for due to the hurdles created by the bureaucrats and its PC1 had been rejected multiple times by bureaucrats sitting in Lahore.
The government did not take any note as a result of which hundreds of patients die here every year due to unavailability of burn unit. More than 300 cases come to BVH every year which were shifted to surgery wards due to unavailability of burn unit, their treatment could not be completed. Thus, children with 25% burn injuries and adults with 35% burn injuries could not survive.
South Punjab especially Bahawalpur Division witnesses hundreds of cases of burn injuries and acid attacks in which people often lose their lives due to the unavailability of burn unit in Bahawalpur Division including Victoria Hospital, considering this situation Government of Punjab approved the burn unit in Bahawal Victoria Hospital in 2009 consisted of 12 beds upon the public pressure whose PC1 was also approved, the Rs500 million project was about to start but Punjab Government did not release the funds for the project as a result of which the project could not be completed.
The hospital sources said that more than 300 cases come to BVH every year and they are shifted to surgery wards due to unavailability of burn unit, their treatment could not be completed due to unavailability of burn unit due to which children with 25% burn injuries and adults with 35% burn injuries could not survive, they added that if burn unit is to be established then this number could have been improved.
They said told that patients from Bahawalpur division are not sent to Multan's burn unit as Medical Superintendent Multan had stopped us from sending the patients from Bahawalpur through a written letter.
Sources said that in 2014, Burn Unit Bahawalpur's file was reopened due to public, administrative and political pressure and drafting was started however as usual the case was returned with objection. And now it has been said that project's plans are outdated and its estimated cost has also been changed so that this project's PC1 should be prepared again and its approval should be taken again from the government.
On the critical situation, Young Lawyers' Association President Farooq Basheer and former president of Chamber of Commerce Sheikh Abbas Raza said that people are losing their lives in southern Punjab especially Bahawalpur Division due to inhumanity of the government, leadership is busy in spending the budgets on Metro and Orange Train projects and even in the recent budget no funds have been allocated for the project.
They demanded strict action against the people creating hurdles in the project. People of the area also said that no one had ever felt the need of establishing burn unit that is dire need of the people. They said that the situation was a big question mark on CM Shehbaz Sharif's good governance claims.