ISLAMABAD, Oct 29: The College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) has restored the teaching hospital status of the Federal Government Services Hospital (FGSH) after a team of the College inspectors approved the improvements introduced by the hospital recently.

The hospital had been divested of its teaching hospital status on account of an ill-equipped library, denial of enhanced stipends to the trainee residential medical officers (TRMOs) and poor teaching standards.

“It is gratifying to note that the hospital has brought tremendous improvements in its system, which ultimately benefit the patients,” Sultan Farooqi, the CPSP president, said while talking to Dawn. He also appreciated the federal government’s support to the hospital to improve its working.

The inspection team of the CPSP had recently visited the hospital, commonly known as polyclinic, during which it decided to recognize departments like general surgery, gynaecology/obstetrician and medicine for training in Fellow of College of Physicians and Surgeons (FCPS) and Paeds and Radiology for Member College of Physicians and Surgeons (MCPS).

A hospital source, meanwhile, told this reporter that the CPSP team had also highlighted some deficiencies like insufficient number of supervisors in different faculties and directed installation of ventilators in the intensive care unit (ICU). The team also asked the hospital management to remove the discrepancies within next two years.

Sultan Farooqi conceded that the hospital had provided Internet facility to the TRMOs in addition to the availability of new medical journals and books in the library, though the library timings still were not sufficient. He said the hospital had also started lecture programmes and extended some of its wards.

The hospital source said the management was also considering increasing the library timings. He said the academic council had also been revived to evaluate the standard of teaching. Besides, the departmental rounds have also started, he added.

About provision of monthly stipend of Rs6,210 to each TRMO, which was approved by the health ministry but the final nod was still awaited from the finance ministry, the CPSP president said he was coming to Islamabad in few days to hold meetings in this regard. However, he said Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), the FGSH and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College (JPMC) should put in joint efforts for the realization of this demand.

He said the college intended to make it obligatory for each teaching hospital to pay this much stipend to each trainee doctor. He said the college had already decided that the institutions charging fee from the trainees and denying stipend to the FCPS-II trainees would be disaffiliated. A mandatory payment equivalent to basic pay of BPS-17 should be paid to the trainees as stipend.