MUZAFFARABAD: Civil society activists and health professionals in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) capital have called upon the government to meet the pressing requirement of establishing ‘accident and emergency’ departments in the two leading hospitals of the sprawling town.

“Azad Jammu and Kashmir in general and its northern districts in particular are calamity and accident-prone areas, witnessing frequent casualties in road accidents and other tragedies. Ironically, none of the two major hospitals in the capital have an exclusive accident and emergency department to the detriment to the safety of the people at large,” said Naila Altaf Kayani, an active civil society activist.

“An accident and emergency department can help save hundreds of lives, brought to the hospitals following serious injuries… Therefore, the government must take steps to meet this need without further ado,” she added.

Ms Kayani’s views were echoed by Malik Mehmood, a young architect, who suggested that in the first stage Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahayan (SKZN) Hospital, also known as the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), should be chosen for this facility in keeping with its convenient location.

Rebuilt by the UAE government in the wake of the October 2005 earthquake, the SKZN Hospital is located in the heart of the old city. Its location and strict discipline by the army led management are the reasons people prefer to get their patients treated there.

“In every budget, our governments earmark hell lot of money for so many not-so-essential heads, but no one has so far realised the importance of an accident and emergency centre in the capital even though our main hospital (SKZN) receives a large number of patients with trauma almost every day,” Mr Mehmood said.

When contacted by Dawn, Prof Dr Adnan Mehraj, vice principal of the state-run AJK Medical College Muzaffarabad, maintained that an emergency and accident department was regarded as the face of a hospital and should ideally be part of every health facility.

However, given the scarcity of resources, the government should start with the SKZN for its being the capital’s tertiary care and teaching hospital as well as in view of its catchment area that included not only AJK districts but also the adjoining parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said.

Sharing figures of the workload, SKZN Hospital Commandant Brig Zahid Hussain told Dawn that in 2022 as many as 511,882 people had received treatment in the outpatient department.

The number of those who were hospitalised last year was 28,141 and of them 13,870 were accident and emergency cases, he added.

He said initially the 250-bed hospital had been extended to 350 beds from limited resources and donations by establishing a state of the art paediatric ward as well as a cardiac care unit and gynae ward.

“However, our existing emergency ward does not meet the requirements according to the expectations of the public and therefore we need to have a purpose-built accident and emergency centre,” he said.

Brig Hussain said his team had selected some spaces on the hospital’s premises to raise the much-needed infrastructure with the support of the government and affluent members of society.

Prof Mehraj maintained that some cases of trauma could become irreversible due to delay in treatment, and a well-equipped emergency and accident centre, having a trained staff, could bring down the mortality and morbidity ratio.

AJK’s political and bureaucratic elite should bear in mind that prior planned elective treatment could be taken anywhere, but an emergency treatment had to be taken in the nearest health facility, he said.

Prof Mehraj disclosed that Pakistan had a limited number of accident and emergency specialists and two of them belonged to Muzaffarabad, heading accident and emergency departments in two leading hospitals of the federal capital.

“They are willing to serve their native area, after the government takes this vitally required initiative,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2023