Children Hospital at PIMS facilitates over 50,000 children monthly

Islamabad: Children Hospital at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) has been catering to the needs of child patients reaching hospital from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi along with various cities including Peshawar, Jhelum, Gujrat, Mardan and other cities from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu & Kashmir.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Saturday reveals that the children hospital provides treatment to an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 child patients per month on average. Children outpatient department receives 1,000 to 1,200 patients in the morning shift while the emergency department receives 800 to 950 child patients daily on average.

The PIMS children hospital has also started operating children OPD near emergency department in the evening shift, from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and it is being done for the first time in a public sector hospital in the region. As many as 150 to 260 child patients reaching OPD per day on average are entitled patients, children of federal government employees while 250 to 320 patients are examined in children surgical OPD majority of which requires surgical procedures, said Deputy Director at PIMS Dr. Waseem Ahmed Khawaja said.

He added in Medical OPD, majority of child patients are coming with upper respiratory tract infections, general weakness, gastroenteritis, urinary tract infections and like ailments while the ENT (Ears, Nose & Throat) OPD examines nearly 100 child patients daily on average.

Of 1,800 to 2,000 child patients examined at ENT department per month, 400 to 500 child patients have to undergo major surgical procedures while 250 to 300 minor surgeries are also performed every month at ENT department, he said.