PIMS treated over 2 million patients in 2018

Hospital sees a year of change with top officials satisfied with its performance

ISLAMABAD: In a year of upheavals, the largest tertiary care hospital in the federal capital too was not immune from change as it saw a new executive director take over while it also treated over two million patients during the year.

Even though the hospital kept finding itself in the news for the wrong reasons, such as security breaches and the presence of fake doctors, in the end, it was well that the hospital was able to secure the nod of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Early in the year, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences’ (Pims) administrator Dr Altaf Hussain retired from his post. To replace him, Dr Raja Amjad Mahmood was named as the new administrator.

Then in April, when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) stopped Professor Riaz Warriach from working as the executive director of the hospital since he was primarily a dentist, Dr Mahmood was appointed as the new executive director of the facility.

After taking over, he undertook a number of reforms in the hospital, by renovating the neurology and psychiatry wards apart from accelerating work on new wings. The hospital also decided to dedicate a ward specifically for members of the city’s transgender community.

It was during his tenure that Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan visited the hospital. While the latter was satisfied with the state of facilities on offer at the hospital, CJP Nisar directed to have the outpatient departments open on Sundays as well.

Earlier in March, the cardiac emergency services in the hospital restarted after a four-year delay.

Despite the positives, the hospital saw at least one fake doctor being arrested from the facility who was masquerading as a doctor in the plastic surgery department at night.

To make matters worse, there was an alleged robbery in the hospital as well, sparking security fears at the facility.

The hospital also catered to some of the biggest names in the country, treating deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and now his brother Shahbaz.



Performance

During 2018, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) treated an estimated 2.04 million patients.

By comparison, the hospital had treated around 1.85 million patients during 2017.

Around 78,657 patients were admitted into the hospital, while 28,670 operations were performed.

The pathology department conducted some 3.34 million blood tests were done while around 380,602 radiology tests were conducted.

According to documents available with Daily Express, the outpatient department (OPD) of the hospital treated some 1.39 million patients from January 1, 2018, until December 31, 2018. This works out to around 0.12 million patients a month and some 4,636 patients every day.

This was more than the 1.27 million patients the department treated last year.



Similarly, the emergency department handled 1,769 patients every day, or more than 53,000 patients every month and 646,406 patients in the year. For 2017, this figure was 1,700 per day, 48,900 per month and 587,000 for the year.

Of the patients brought to the hospital, around 25 die every day due to various reasons. This amounts to 750 for the month and 9,000 for the year.

The rise in the number of patients visiting Pims can be attributed to the population of the federal capital more than doubling over the past 20 years to over 2 million.

According to documents, the OPD of Pims annually handled some 234,633 patients while 5,455 patients were admitted. The Pathology department annually tested 315,614 blood, urine and other samples. The radiology department conducted around 51, 988 X-rays and ultrasounds per annum. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2019.