Pain in the back: HMC inaugurates new OPD for spinal surgery

Officials claim it is the first public hospital to offer a separate centre.


Our Correspondent April 24, 2014
Officials claim it is the first public hospital to offer a separate centre. PHOTO: FILE

PESHAWAR: Patients with severe back problems can now be given specialist attention at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) where the Orthopedic Spine Surgery outpatient department (OPD) was inaugurated on Wednesday.

With limited surgical specialists in this field and only two other spinal surgery centres across the country, Hayatabad’s addition is a positive step towards treating patients with spinal conditions.

While speaking to the media, orthopedic specialist Dr Muhammad Arif said the new OPD spinal surgery was a first for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). He referenced only two other similar facilities across the country – Agha Khan Hospital and Combined Military Hospital in Rawalpindi. HMC is the only public sector amongst them.

Spinal surgery in HMC began in 2003, and it took another seven years for the hospital to allocate a theatre for the purpose. Thanks to a Rs46 million grant from the government, a separate OPD dedicated to spinal surgery was established on Wednesday, shared Arif.

Addressing the challenges to this surgical specialty in Pakistan, the professor added there were few specialists for spine surgery and the availability of modern equipment is rare.

“The number of patients complaining of back pain in the country is in the millions,” he said, adding lack of treatment options is why so many people are crippled or lost their lives.

He said the reason why most patients even come in for such surgeries is to get relief from back pain, when other treatments have failed. By providing examples of patients with serious spinal complications, he made the point that successful surgeries at HMC allowed these people to live a normal life.

Arif emphasised the importance of a public hospital offering surgical treatment for back problems. According to him, a surgery that costs Rs700,000 in a private hospital will possibly cost Rs100,000 at a public facility.

HMC Chief Executive, Professor Mumtaz Ali claimed this was the only public hospital in the country where the most modern equipment was available for spinal treatment and surgery.

The new facility is said to have the latest equipment and is expected to treat patients from K-P, Punjab and Afghanistan.


Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2014.

COMMENTS (1)

Insafian | 9 years ago | Reply

Last paragraph of the article was missed out. Here it is: "Thanks to the PTI led government which has made this possible."

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