BAHAWALPUR: The Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) is an over century-old health facility of the defunct Bahawalpur state but it lacks the much-needed burn unit.

Successive Punjab governments have pledged to provide the facility to the hospital but in vain.

In 2017, after the fire from an oil tanker blast, which burnt 124 people, now Thursday’s horrible fire of 7-Up Tezgam, near here has once again underscored the need for the establishment of a burn unit at the BVH.

The BVH, established in1906, has undergone several phases of upgrade and has increased its capacity to accommodate more and more patients. In the 70s, it was declared a teaching hospital after the establishment of a medical college. The cabinet of the late prime minister, Muhammad Khan Junejo, had two health ministers from Bahawalpur division - federal health minister Syed Tasneem Nawaz Gardezi and Punjab health minister Jaffer Iqbal Gujjar, but the BVH could not get a burn unit.

Dawn learnt that before the 2017 oil tanker’s tragedy near Ahmedpur East, a proposal wals floated by the Punjab government to set up a burn unit at the BVH but later the Lahore bureaucracy and the local lawmakers could not pursue the scheme.

However, after June 2017 oil tanker’s tragedy, then chief minister Shahbaz Sharif gave a green signal to this effect and the scheme was also backed by his elder brother prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, who dashed in an emergency to the scene of tragedy directly from Iran and seemed supportive to the need for a burn unit here. Later, nothing was done to get this scheme approved.

Quaid-i-Azam Medical College Principal Prof Dr Javed Iqbal, who is also chief executive officer of the local four health facilities, claimed the burn unit would be set up here under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and land had also been reserved near the government civil hospital on Jhangiwali Road here. Its PC-1 has yet to be prepared.

Head of the BVH department of plastic surgery Prof Dr Mughees Amin was the nominated focal person, who has already participated in two meetings with related departments. Also, Punjab Food Minister Samiullah Chaudhry stated the government would establish the burn unit at the BVH.

On other hand, the nine passengers of the Tezgam fire incident, shifted to the BVH here, have shown the signs of recovery.

BVH Medical Superintendent Dr Azizur Rehman told Dawn that of them, Mumtaz and Rubina Shahid, both with head injuries, had been shifted to high dependency unit of the surgical ward due to their serious condition. Ms Shahid suffered head injuries when she jumped off the running train to escape the fire. Four other patients namely Abdul Momin with 22 percent burns,Tufail with 20 percent burns, Abdul Rehman with 15 percent burns and Shakeel with 12 percent burnt body were recovering fast.

Two other patients - Hassan and Umar - with broken limbs were being treated in the orthopedic ward. The medical superintendent said the attendants of the nine injured people were being provided food and lodging facilities on hospital premises at the BVH expenses.

DENGUE: Eight more patients tested positive dengue virus at the BVH on Saturday.

According to emergency ward doctors, the number of dengue patients rose to 16 in the isolation ward while so far total 331 patients has been treated during the current dengue virus season.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2019