October 24, 2002	Thursday	Sha’aban 17,1423

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 23: The absence of a purpose-based shock and trauma burn unit is causing great suffering to the patients of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and surrounding areas.

The only small burn ward of the city is at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), which has only six to seven beds. The burn ward, which should be located at an isolated place, shares space with urology and surgical wards — a situation where a patient can even die due to hospital-acquired infections.

Owing to the absence of burn units in the NWFP, Pims has to deal with a lot of referral cases from surrounding areas of the twin cities, since there are only two other proper burn units, one in Wah and the other in Kharian.

A source told Dawn that the burn unit at Wah had requested Pims not refer any patients since it had limited capacity, while the one at Kharian charged heavily from civil patients.

The pathetic condition of the burn ward at Pims came into limelight during a visit organized by the Aurat Foundation under its legislative watch programme on Wednesday. The visit aimed at acquiring a first hand knowledge about the facilities, requirement and problems of the ward.

However, the group appreciated the fact that despite lack of proper facilities, the doctors were doing an excellent job.

Led by Safi Malik and Sadia Mumtaz advocate of the legislative watch, the delegation comprised local leaders of PPP, PML-Q, PTI and JI women wing.

Executive director of Pims, Prof (Dr) Azhar Mahmood Qureshi, emphasized the need for financial support for the burn unit by philanthropist and other sections of the society.

The delegation was informed that from 1993 to 1995, the hospital received 430 burn victims — 257 men and 173 women. The major cause of burns among women was either homicidal, suicidal or stove-related. The large number of victims belonged to lower income group.

An expert said a burn unit should have a sterilized isolated environment with separate bathrooms and tubs to prevent cross infection. The burn ward beds in the hospital are full of bugs and cockroaches. The pesticides being provided are of a low quality and, hence, ineffective against insects.

Moreover, a burn victim needs three times more food than a normal person, in addition to repeated blood transfusion. A doctor said one per cent burns meant that one per cent of the red blood cells had been destroyed. “You can well imagine what 40 or 60 per cent burns means,” he said.

A patient having 40 per cent burns has to spent Rs1500 to Rs3,000 daily. The cost of running a burn unit is very high and consistent financial support is required, the doctor said.

Unfortunately, he said, the burn ward was not the top priority of the already cash-starved hospital management, therefore it lacked proper facilities.

He said the nursing staff at the ward could not give due attention to each patient for being overworked. The 46-bed ward, also having patients of urology and surgery, has only four staff nurses in the morning, and one staff nurse each in the evening and the night shift, when there should be one nurse for three to four patients.

The doctor deplored that a burn unit had been established at the Federal Government Services Hospital, but it was still non- functional.

During the visit, it was highlighted that the hospital could meet its financial problems if lacunas in the law were removed by allowing hospitals to utilize the funds they generated, instead of surrendering the same to the government. The funds could be audited through government auditors. “We have to go through lot of bureaucratic channels just to get release the amount generated by us,” a doctor said.