K-P to upgrade burn centre in DI Khan

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has decided to upgrade the Burn and Trauma Centre in the Chief Minister’s home district of Dera Ismail Khan (DI Khan).

The initial estimate for the upgrade project is Rs3 billion. The preparation of its PC-1 has begun and experts are reviewing all aspects of the project.

Officials from the Department of Civil Works have also visited the site. A multi-purpose building will be selected for the project.

Official sources told The Express Tribune that, although a 14-bed burn and trauma centre had been built in DI Khan two years ago, it lacked facilities.

It has now been decided to upgrade it to a 50-bed facility with modern amenities. The hospital will have three Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds dedicated to burn patients. While two surgeons are currently working at the burn centre, three others specializing in trauma and plastic surgery will also be provided to the hospital.

The new medical staff will receive six months of training at the Peshawar Burn Hospital.

Currently, sources said, the province’s highest burden of patients is at the Peshawar Burn and Trauma Centre in Hayatabad where there is always a rush of patients and sometimes not enough beds.

More than 30 per cent of burn patients from across the province are brought to the Hayatabad Burn and Trauma Centre.

Officials said that, although burn centres had been established at Dir, Mardan and Bannu with the help of the German government, they lacked facilities and were not well equipped.

In the event of fires and bombings, these centres are currently unable to bear the burden of a large number of patients.

Sources also said the Chief Minister was personally interested in the project and had chaired an official meeting to review the project in its entirety.

According to them, a large number of burn patients are reported in the province every year, many of whom require surgical treatment. Burn patients are also reported in bombings and other terrorist attacks in K-P.

While major hospitals in the province have burn units, they are not equipped with specialized facilities and are thus not effective. Patients are therefore often referred to Peshawar for treatment.

It may be recalled that, last year, Minister of State for Poverty Alleviation and Social Security Faisal Karim Kundi, who is currently serving as the K-P governor, had inaugurated the burns and plastic surgery unit at the Mufti Mehmood Hospital, DI Khan.

Former Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Ahmad Karim Kundi, Gomal Medical College Dean Dr Nasim Saba Mehsud, Director of the hospital Dr Umar Shah Astrana, hospital medical director Dr Muhammad Wasim, doctors, paramedics and elites of the city had attended the inauguration ceremony.

In his address at the symposium at Gomal Medical College, DI Khan in connection with the inauguration of the unit, Kundi had said that it was his desire to equip all hospitals of DI Khan with state-of-the-art facilities so that patients would not have to go for treatment to other cities including Islamabad, Multan and Lahore.