Gambat hospital saves upper Sindh patients’ trip to Karachi

Doctors recently performed a successful atrial septal defect operation.

SUKKUR: Gambat is one of the eight talukas of district Khairpur. Apart from its Pirs and politicians, the residents take pride in the establishment of the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences (Gims).

Spread over 10 acres, the hospital provides all modern medical facilities for which the people of upper Sindh had to rush to Karachi earlier. The hospital performs modern bypass surgeries, angiographies and angioplasty operations. For the first time in the history of Gims, on October 5, the doctors performed an atrial septal defect operation.

Haseena, 25, a resident of Sobhodero district in Khairpur, found out she had a hole in her heart four months ago. She came to Gims, where the doctors advised her to undergo the operation but she was afraid. After the surgery, her life changed for the better, she adds with a glint of joy in her eye. Amna of Shaheed Benazirabad and Sabzal Khan of Ghotki have undergone bypass surgeries at Gims and are leading healthy lives.

Gims is a 300-bed hospital equipped with modern oxygen plant, cardiac unit, ICU, gynaecological ward, urology ward, general ward, ENT department, dental department, neurology department and operation theatres. According to Gims director Dr Raheem Bux Bhatti, when he took over the hospital in 1974, it was a two-room dispensary, which had been established by the rulers of Khairpur State in early 1900s.

Dr Bhatti has served as a medical officer in the Pakistan Army for four years. “It was my dream to make this hospital a jewel in the crown.”

It was not an easy job and arranging the funds was the main challenge, he said, adding that giving up was not in his nature and thus with the support of Allah and the generous donors, his dream materialised.

The hospital was always crowded with patients and, therefore, a new block on 65 acres is being constructed. The out-patients department (OPD) treats around 3,000 patients daily and due to this a bigger block is being constructed. Around Rs2 are being charged from the patients in the OPDs and Rs5 per day bed charges from in-patients, he said. “Walking around the under-construction block, I felt out of this world, because nobody can imagine the provision of such modern facilities in a small town like Gambat.”

This block consists of a 100-bed trauma centre and burns ward, which is the long-standing demand of the people of upper Sindh. Besides this, the new block also consists of most modern lecture halls, auto-laboratory, skill laboratory and cafeteria.

Dr Bhatti said the burns ward will be equipped with sophisticated beds and washing system. Everything will be computerised and the patients with burn injuries will be lifted from the bed and shifted to a bath tub filled with antiseptic lotion, he said.

He said that trauma centre will be equipped with modern X-ray machines called Statiscon x-ray to screen the victim within 13 seconds, which will considerably reduce the radiation.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2013.