The changing scenario of childcare in Pakistan

Speakers at AEMC discuss need of paediatric care, emergency departments

KARACHI: Media reports sometimes encourage people to come out and help people in need. The present condition of the two biggest children's emergency departments of Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) and National Institute of Child Health (NICH) is a result of such reports that changed the whole scenario of healthcare for children.

Speaking at the fourth Annual Emergency Medicine Conference (AEMC), Dr Naseeruddin Mahmood, paediatrician and neonatologist at South City Hospital and Aga Khan University (AKU) Hospital, said that a report encouraged him and his friends to renovate the CHK emergency ward. Earlier, the ward was in a pathetic state when a CNN correspondent Sanjay Gupta highlighted its condition in 2010, he added.

The two-day AEMC was organised by AKU, in collaboration with the National Institute of Health, Johns Hopkins University and the Fogarty JHU-Pak International Collaborative Trauma and Injury Research Training Programme.

"In just 10 months, we completed the CHK ward, and then renovated the NICH emergency department," Dr Mahmood said. He added that the total cost for treatment is Rs900 per child while the total funds available are Rs340 million yearly. "We are running both for the last five years and improving their capacity," Mahmood added.

Pediatric Emergency Medicine in Pakistan

Giving an overview of paediatric emergency medicine in Pakistan, AKU paediatric emergency medicine associate professor and director Dr Asad Mian said, "There is a need to reinforce paediatric trauma management services in emergency departments, including the screening for potential physical, sexual and psychological abuse." He hoped that through AEMC 2015, the need to develop national level contingencies is emphasised.

"From a public health perspective, primary prevention of child injury, such as increasing safety at homes, schools and playgrounds, is really important. All the emergency rooms that kids are treated in need to be child-friendly," Dr Mian stressed.

Emergency Care

AKU department of psychiatry professor Dr Murad Moosa Khan believes that emergency healthcare professionals in Pakistan have to deal with violence with little or no support from the relevant agencies.

"Work in emergency care settings can pose unique ethical challenges in patient care," said Dr Khan. "These include management of patients who may or may not be in a position to give informed consent, and the need to maintain privacy and confidentiality of the patients."

Emergency departments

Dr Junaid Razzak, John Hopkins University emergency medicine department professor and the pioneer of Pakistan's first emergency medicine residency programme, talked about the need and importance of emergency departments.

"Focusing on constantly improving the emergency care, which is available 24/7 and 365 days of the year, is essential for sustainable healthcare gain," said Dr Razzak. "With only two programmes in the country, we are graduating only six to 10 emergency doctors a year," he said, adding that Pakistan needs 15,000 to 30,000 trained emergency physicians today.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2015.