RAWALPINDI, Nov 27: The setting up of a burns unit at the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital has fallen victim to a stand-off between the offices of the director architecture and executive engineer buildings of the Punjab government.

The architect’s office wanted the design of the burns unit, which, according to the office of the XEN, had already been sent. The situation has been the same for several months now and no one is trying to find a solution to the problem.

The provincial government had accorded its approval for the setting up of the Institute of Plastic Surgery and Burns at the hospital through private-public partnership at an estimated cost of Rs24.1 million. However, the ground-breaking ceremony had been called off at the eleventh hour in March as the high-ups of the health department had certain reservations regarding the project.

At that time, the Punjab health minister, Prof (Dr) Mehmood Ahmed Chaudhary, had said: “Things are being channelized and hopefully we will launch the project within three to four weeks.”

The health department was of the opinion that proper sanctions had not been obtained for the project. It had also objected to the financing of the project through donations.

They department high-ups were of the view that it was naive to think that the project could be completed only through donations and that the Punjab government would finance the establishment of the unit in view of its significance.

As originally conceived, the 40-bed unit, to be established mostly through donations, required government support in the shape of provision of human resources and technical assistance.

The technicalities, which the health department wanted to fulfil in the stipulated three to four weeks, have still not be completed even after the passage of over nine months. The project was scheduled to be completed in 2-3 years.

The services proposed to be provided at the burns unit included burns management and plastic surgery services; 24-hour emergency service and tele-consultation service; complex surgical reconstruction and hand salvage surgery and training facility for plastic surgeons, medical students, nurses, technicians and paramedics.

Besides treatment, another unique service to be offered by the institute was prevention of burn cases by creating awareness among the general public.

The absence of a proper burns unit was being felt in Rawalpindi, where annually 1500-1800 burn cases were reported from the twin cities, adjoining areas and even Azad Kashmir. However, the city hospitals are not adequately equipped to handle such cases.

According to a Dawn report published in May, over 1,000 women had died in the twin cities alone owing to absence of a properly equipped burns unit. “It remains to be seen, how many more deaths will be required to move the bureaucracy to shun its lethargy and callousness in this regard,” a doctor said.

There are only four internationally recognized burn units in the country.

The DHQ Hospital had received Rs5 million donation for the project. Since, the project is still nowhere near completion, the donated material is now being used by other departments of the hospital to avoid wastage in case of expiry.