ISLAMABAD, Nov 10: In what doctors say a near miracle, a man with 80 per cent body burns has been treated at the burn centre of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

Hussain Shah, the political agent of Orakzai Agency, is the lucky man who is currently undergoing rehabilitation, including psychological therapy, at the private ward of the hospital.

In September this year, Mr Shah was caught in a fireball after a blast struck his hotel room in Blue Area of Islamabad. Several other persons were also injured in the incident. The police ruled out the possibility of any terror act and claimed it was a gas leakage explosion.

According to Prof Tariq Iqbal, the head of the Pims burn centre, proximity to the hospital and immediate shifting of the victim to the burn centre helped doctors resuscitate the victim. Besides, provision of better care was also the reason which helped the team in saving the patient's life, he added.

Mr Shah was shifted to the hospital within a few minutes after the incident. Prof Iqbal added: “Had the victim been brought here from any other area away from the capital city, we might not have been able to save his life.”

This was almost a miracle since no patient with 80 per cent burns has ever been treated in Pakistan because the country has no high-tech centres, he added.

According to international burn data shared with Dawn; the mortality rate for victims with 40 to 50 per cent body burns was almost 86 per cent in Pakistan.

“The mortality rate is less than 10 per cent in the developed countries for victims having 50 per cent burns,” said Prof Iqbal.

Before the start of this state-of-the-art facility, mortality rate among the victims was 90 per cent in public sector hospitals and 50 per cent in other burn units, he said.Regarding treatment at the Pims burn centre, Prof Iqbal said patients were treated free of cost and also provided with advanced burn dressings and synthetic skins.

Synthetic or artificial skin refers to the skin grown in a laboratory that can be used by people who have suffered skin trauma such as severe burn or skin diseases.

Prof Iqbal added that none of the burn units in Pakistan was treating patients on similar lines.

Most of such units are under the control of the armed forces where civilians are charged very high fee, he said.

Among the country's renowned burn centres are Nescom burn centre in Islamabad that is meant for chemical burn patients and reserved for officials of sensitive installations, Kharian burn centre at the Combined Military Hospital Kharian and the Pakistan Ordnance Factories (PAF) burn unit at Wah Cantonment.

The data shared by Prof Iqbal with this reporter showed that the burn centre, also a centre of excellence, has treated over 20,300 patients - 11,475 males and 8,789 females - since its inception in December 2007. Out of these, only 297 patients - 27 per cent - died due to severe burns.

He added that almost 774 patients were discharged after minor or major advanced burn dressing which was 73 per cent of total number of patients treated at the center.

“Almost 1,100 patients were given treatment during their indoor admission at the burn centre,” he added.