Funds for health : Rs150 million provided for burn unit

Burn unit project initiated in 2003 still incomplete.

FAISALABAD:

The government released Rs150 million on Monday for the purchase of machinery and other equipment for Allied Hospital’s burn unit.

In 2003, the project proposal (PC-1) for setting up a burn unit was submitted by Prof Ghulam Qadir Fayyaz. However, the unit could not start functioning due to a lack of equipment.

The Pakistan Baitul Maal had earlier agreed to provide the required funds for completing the project. However, the Baitul Maal required that the project should be completed under their direct control. The Allied Hospital administration did not agree and refused to allocate land for the burn unit. Due to the disagreement, the project was shifted to Jinnah Hospital, Lahore.

The project was taken up by the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid government in 2006 with an estimated cost of Rs478 million. The funding was delayed after the present government came into power. Due to the delay, the cost of the project went up to Rs1,320 million.

When the project was started in 2006 and it was scheduled to be completed within 22 months at an estimated cost of Rs478 million. The project has not been completed yet. The contractor has now requested for three more months to complete the project.

The burn centre was designed to treat 55 patients at a time.

Burn injuries are common among labourers who work at the factories in Faisalabad and its suburbs. Serious burn cases cannot be treated at the Allied Hospital right now. So, such patients have to be taken to Lahore.

The federal and Punjab governments had agreed to share the cost of the project. However, the project was repeatedly delayed due to non-availability of funds. The Burn Center was scheduled to be completed up to December 2012.

The Health Department had not yet approved the recruitment of medical and paramedical staff for the burn unit.

The delay in the approval of recruitment will postpone the project further because more than a year is required to train the staff.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) standards, there should be a burn center for one million people. The population of Faisalabad district is more than seven million, but there is no functioning burn unit here.

According to the Allied Hospital spokesman, 300 to 350 patients with burn injuries are brought to the hospital every month.

Allied Hospital Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Rashid Maqbool told The Express Tribune that Rs233 million had been allocated for the construction of the burn unit’s building. “The construction work is almost complete. Purchase of equipment and recruitment of staff is underway,” he said.

He said that a six-bed emergency, out-patient department (OPD), rehabilitation, blood-bank and pharmacy would be built at the centre’s ground floor.

“An eight-bed ICU, eight-bed high dependent unit, burn shower, dressing and consultant’s office will be set up at first floor,” he said.

He said burn and reconstructive surgery ward would have 26 beds and would be located at the second floor of the building.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2014.