Expansion of emergency ward: PIMS administration plans to demolish OPD

The outpatient block also holds HIV/AIDS facility.

ISLAMABAD:

The administration of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) plans to demolish the outpatient department (OPD) of the hospital to expand the main emergency ward, it has been learnt.

The OPD block of the hospital also holds the HIV/AIDS treatment facility which might have to shut down during the whole process.

“The hospital administration is yet to specify an area, where to shift the OPD. On an average, hundreds of patients from across the country visit the Pims OPD. If the OPD is demolished prior to shifting it to any other location, patients will suffer badly,” said a senior doctor wishing anonymity.

He said that the expansion work on emergency ward was underway and as part of the expansion plan, the OPD and the existing blood bank facility were going to be demolished.

Meanwhile, talking to The Express Tribune, the HIV/AIDS facility head, Prof Dr Rizwan Qazi said that he had not formally been informed by the hospital administration about the demolition plan.

“Every day some unknown people come and measure the walls of the facility, which not only disturbs me but also my patients, suffering from HIV/AIDs, who do not want to expose their ailment to anyone,” he said.

He said that the hospital administration paid no heed to his request to set up the HIV/AIDS clinic at any other block. “This clinic is not that much important for them as the emergency ward,” he said while referring to the expansion work, being carried out by the hospital administration.

“The issue is that in our society HIV/AIDS is considered the social stigma and taboo and patients suffering from it need confidentiality, “ he said. This clinic was set up inside the OPD to hide the identity of the HIV/AIDS patients, because OPD is always flooded with patients suffering from various ailments and nobody can easily notice which patient suffers from what illness,” Dr Qazi added.

Prof Qazi said that the HIV/AIDs treatment centre was established in 2005 by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) and Pims. “At present, a total of 1,500 patients including 15 from Afghanistan are registered with it,” he said.

Pims Administrator, Dr M Iqbal Memon, could not be contacted for comments despite repeated attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2013.