ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has written a letter to the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), hospitals as well as provinces to ensure that its management is taken on board before referring any patient to Pims.

The letter has been written after a number of incidents in which patients were referred to Pims but ventilators or beds were not available at the hospital. As a result, relatives of the patients not only criticised the hospital management but on a number of times held protests against the management and beat up hospital staff.

The letter, which is available with Dawn, states: “It has been observed that a majority of patients referred to Pims from different hospitals of Pakistan faced a lot of inconvenience due to lack of coordination and non-implementation of a proper referral system. A number of patients are referred to Pims without confirming the availability of beds and other facilities.”

Hospital writes letter to Capital Administration and Development Division, provinces

The treating hospitals concerned were requested to refer patients to Pims after confirming the bed position at the hospital, burn centre and the availability of ventilators.

When contacted, Pims Administrator Dr Mohammad Amjad told Dawn said the hospital received a large number of unexpected patients.

“In the federal capital, private hospitals admit patients and keep them admitted till they feel that their families have become bankrupt or left with no money to pay. They then refer such patients to Pims. Similarly, we receive patients from Rawalpindi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and different parts of Punjab and AJK,” he said.

“Hospitals tell the families that they are referring the patients to Pims and also hand them it in writing. However, we remain unaware and when patients arrive at Pims it becomes impossible for its management to provide them beds, especially ventilators,” he said.

“We cannot blame patients and their families because they follow the advice of their doctors and shift their patients to Pims. But the treating doctors should contact the relevant department of Pims before referring any patient so that proper arrangements could be made,” he said.

“So many times, five or six patients reached the burn centre when it did not have even a single bed available. Similarly, it becomes impossible to remove a patient from a ventilator to make room for a new patient. That is why I have requested the ministry to play its role in putting a proper referral system in place,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2018