ISLAMABAD, Dec 24: Work on the only burn unit in the twin cities has commenced with the arrival of equipment required to set up the facility at the district headquarters hospital (DHQ), Rawalpindi.

“The container carrying the state-of-the-art equipment for the burn unit has been brought from London.

Funds for these facilities have been collected by the overseas Pakistanis through donations”, Dr Zubair Hassan, the DHQ medical superintendent told Dawn.

The unit will be set up on a 20,000-square feet area within the hospital premises. The Rs18 million facility will be called the institute of plastic surgery and burn unit, Dr Hassan said.

After completion it will comprise a separate intensive care unit, general wards, private rooms, operation theatres, rooms for recovery and physiotherapy.

The significance of a burn unit could be gauged from the fact that at present the biggest hospital of the Capital — Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims — does not have a proper burn unit.

The burn patients, who are sensitive to infections and require complete protection from germs, need proper cleaning of wounds and special treatment at a specific temperature, are usually treated in the general wards and are therefore vulnerable to all kinds of infections.

According to a doctor, treatment of burn patients is very expensive. A patient with only 40 per cent burns would require Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 a day in expenses.

The nearest facility for burn patients are available at the Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF) Wah or at Kharian, but majority of the patients succumb to their injuries before reaching the hospital.

A source said Pims administration had submitted a summary to the health ministry for setting up of a burn unit at a cost of Rs39 million. But the government has yet not succeeded in its efforts to get foreign aid in this regard.

A similar attempt was earlier, made to set up such a facility in the Federal Government Services Hospital (FGSH) Islamabad with the assistance of French government, but the plan could not materialize due to the usual bureaucratic wrangling and health ministry’s lack of interest.

Serious attempt was being made to set up a burn unit, as the DHQ alone receives about 10 patients a week but due to lack of facilities, it is difficult to treat even a patient with 20 per cent burns, whereas, according to medical experts, patients with 70 per cent burns can also be treated, said Dr Hassan.

He said Prof Charles Viva, renowned for his expertise in plastic surgery had offered the hospital management to send two or three teams of qualified doctors annually, who could conduct training of treating burn patients.

Highly trained doctors, paramedics and other staff is required to treat burn victims because of the severity of wounds.

He said burn unit was being set up with hospital management committee’ support, who has approved the final plan.

After being reviewed by the engineering department, the proposal would be submitted to the Punjab government for final approval even though, no government money was involved in the project, Dr Hassan said.