Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has approved the extension of the 20-bedded PIMS Burn Care Centre (BCC) to a multi-story state-of-the-art 70-bedded burn centre.
The state-of-the-art burn centre was established at PIMS on December 6, 2007, which was the first of its kind in public sector. Burn patients were passing through a great ordeal because it is the only facility in the country, where patients are being provided free of cost treatment.
Talking to Pakistan Today, PIMS Burn Care Centre Director Prof Dr Tariq Iqbal revealed that the prime minister has approved the upgradation of the burn centre and the work on the extension of the burn centre would be started in the next few days.
Dr Iqbal said that they have been demanding for the extension of the facility for the last nine years, the premier has given approval for the upgradation of the burn centre from 22-bedded to 70-bedded, which would help ease the problems being faced by the patients in the hospital.
He said that the new burn centre would have a research centre along with a separate OPD, adding that with the extension of the facility, it would help accommodate more patients because many patients are denied admission due to non-availability of beds at the centre due to a massive increase of referrals from other cities.
The mortality rate for burn victims in Pakistan is very high as compared to various countries due to non-availability of the facility at the regional level, he maintained.
For the management of burns patients, the first two hours are extremely important which determines the ultimate outcome of the patients, he maintained.
Hence, in order to ensure that these patients are immediately taken to a facility and managed properly, burn centres should be established in all the regions of the country.
Dr Tariq said that a four-bed burns ward should also be set up at DHQ and THQ hospitals so as to ease the burden on the burn centre at PIMS.
Iqbal said that the management of the burn centre is even ready to train the doctors if the government opened new burn units.
He said the staffers at the burn centre should be provided with some incentive along with special pay for their extra work, which is a set principle worldwide.
“We have a much higher recovery rate at PIMS Burns Care Centre. The survival rate among such patients is around 70 per cent,” he maintained.
The burn centre at PIMS is equipped with all the modern facilities for the management of acute burn injuries and is the only facility in the country, where patients are being provided free of cost treatment. Hence, people from across the country are visiting the centre.
The data shared by the hospital management with Pakistan Today showed that since July 1, 2015 till June, 30, 2016, it has managed 15,000 patients, despite having limited resources. Out of the total 15,000 patients, 8,000 were male and 6,500 were female. Majority of the cases were of scald burn cases and household accidental cases.
It is pertinent to mention here that the burn centre at PIMS was established to treat burn victims of federal capital, but the facility received burn patients from Punjab to KP, even up to Kashmir.
