Game changer in the field of medicine, Indus hospital has a long way to go

It aims to become a university and set up three training schools.

KARACHI: They say where there is a will there is a way and this is exactly what The Indus Hospital has proven so far. But sky is the limit.

The hospital now aims to become a university. “There is a great shortage of human resource in the medical sector and we see young professionals move out the country every day,” said Dr Abdul Bari Khan, the CEO of Indus hospital. “We need professionals who have been properly trained and are ingrained to serve the country.”

Besides becoming a university, the hospital also aims to open up medical, nursing and technical training schools in the next five years. However, achieving the status of a university status is a 20-year-long plan.

In Pakistan, three out of 10 people in Pakistan are at the risk of being seriously ill merely because of the mere lack of affordable health facilities, according to a report published in 2011 by United Nations Development Programme.

Indus hospital is one facility that can boast to be making up for this shortage. Ever since it was set up in June 2007 and has treated around 900,000 patients till March 2012. Over the last five years, the flow of patients has also increased from 47,928 out patients in 2007-08 to 249,085 in 2011-12.

The hospital has also taken the lead in spreading awareness and preventing tuberculosis. They collaborated with National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) and set up Directly Observed Therapy Short-course (DOTS) programme for the management of patients according to World Health Organisation guidelines. They also collaborated with the International Research and Development Centre, Sindh government and the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Center and set up another free community-based programme.

Currently, the hospital is running an awareness campaign. It targets the relatively opulent areas of the city to raise money. It has set up stalls in Dolmen Mall, Park Towers and The Forum where people not only learnt about the facility but also donated generously to it.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2012.