Project concept approved: CADD set to upgrade PIMS

Govt to hire consultants for liver unit once rules are finalised

ISLAMABAD: The government has approved plans to upgrade several departments at the largest tertiary care hospital in the city, including its intensive care units and mortuary.

The Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) has approved eight Project Concept –Is (PC-I) worth Rs600 million to upgrade different sections of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

Pims spokesperson Dr Wasim Khawaja said that money will be used to upgrade eight sections of the hospital including its optical section, the ear-nose-throat (ENT) section, medical, intensive care unit (ICU), mortuary, incinerators, nursing hostel and project management unit.

Moreover, Dr Khawaja said that the hospital will be submitting PC-I for upgrading the existing infrastructure of the liver transplant centre and seek a supplementary grant for the purpose during the current financial year.

This grant, he explained, will be used to hire liver transplant consultants including surgeons and physicians on a pay scale similar to those of technical experts which were recently approved by the federal cabinet. Moreover, these people will be offered performance-based incentives for the number of procedures they perform.

He said that some doctors, nurses and paramedical staff from the existing pool of human resources in Pims will be trained to conduct liver or organ transplant from any of the leading institutions in the field.

The Pims spokesperson said the relevant rules and procedures for need assessment, recruitment and performance evaluation are being developed and will be notified in consultation with the Finance Division. Once the rules are notified, they will be advertising the positions.

Dr Khawaja said that they expect the recruitment process to be completed before June 30.

He added that the facilities for a liver transplant were set up under the Prime Minister’s Fatal Disease Programme to provide financial assistance to the deserving patients for treatment of various life-threatening disease such as a liver transplant. For this purpose, a revolving fund was established in the health ministry.

However, due to the heavy load of deserving cases and to ensure that patients of liver transplant are treated in time, the health ministry will be exploring the possibility of setting up new hospitals.

Similarly, Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) secretary will move a case for recruitment against the vacant posts of basic pay scale (BPS) 16 and above to the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) and will work to complete the process before September 30.

Dr Khawaja said that they were considering two plans. The first to either establish a specialised centre for cancer treatment in Pims. The other will be to add a dedicated surgical unit to the NORI Cancer Hospital in Islamabad with an institutionalised arrangement between the two hospitals for the treatment of Pims’ cancer patients.

Moreover, the Pims Breast Screening and Bone Marrow Transplant Centre could be merged with either cancer facility as decided by the government.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2018.