PIMS School of Dentistry becomes functional

Islamabad : The ongoing reforms will not only ensure financial autonomy of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences–Federal Medical Teaching Institute, improve patient care and facilitate employees but will also turn the premier institute into the only one in the capital to be on the front line in case of a disaster or outbreak of diseases, said Dr Abid Malik, chairman of the PIMS-FMTI board of governors, on Wednesday.

Dr Abid told reporters that the FMTI-PIMS had become functional in October 2021 and in the next three months, its BoG restructured the administration, created new departments like IT, legal, human resource and procurement, addressed funding shortages and took steps for financial autonomy, better patient care and facilitation of staff members.

He said the PIMS School of Dentistry had 125 dental units but it wasn't working due to the unavailability of funds caused by a delay in the PC-IV's approval.

The BoG chairman said currently, the school was almost fully functional and would operate at full capacity early next month after the allocation of funds and the arrival of more staff members.

He said the board didn't allow employees to use official vehicles for personal use, asked those working at other places to report to duty in the hospital, and launched a recruitment exercise to address the shortage of around 1,200 employees.

"The new dean (medical), new dean (dental), hospital director, medical director, nursing director, director (IT), director (HR), manager (legal) and several professors, associate professors and assistant professors were hired initially in those departments where either there was no faculty member or there was an acute shortage of supervisors and faculty members. We hired the best people from within the country and abroad," he said.

Dr Abid said new nurses had been employed for better patient care, while consultants were available in the emergency department and that work had begun on a modern 170-bed new emergency to be completed within two years.

"We are installing a new air-conditioning system in the wards to comfort patients, while a biometric attendance system has been introduced to check absenteeism," he said.

The BoG chairman urged all staff members to join hands for better administration and patient care.