PIMS set to open modern emergency room for children

Islamabad : The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the capital city's largest government hospital, is set to offer modern emergency care to children free of charge by opening an emergency room on its premises.

According to Dr Abid Malik, chairman of the PIMS Board of Governors, the children's emergency room put up with the help of NGO ChildLife Foundation will open its doors to patients next week.

"The state-of-the-art children’s emergency room will provide free emergency care to children round the clock following international protocols," he told 'The News'.

The PIMS BoG chairman said that not only would ChildLife Foundation give away free medicines to patients but it would also provide the medical facility with doctors, paramedics and nurses and bear the cost of their salaries and other benefits. He said that manpower would help the hospital post staff members to other places to address shortstaffing issue.

Dr Abid Malik said that the initiative would improve the quality of medical services for children not only from the Islamabad Capital Territory but also from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

He said that serious efforts were being made by the BoG to upgrade the hospital, especially its Children's Hospital and Mother and Child Health Care Centre with the help of the Japanese aid agency, JICA and Children’s Hospital.

"With all the good work, which we [board] have done so far or are going to do as part of our commitment to the cause of public health, the PIMS will certainly become one of the country’s most prestigious medical institutions before long," he said. ChildLife Foundation chairman Iqbal Adamjee said the PIMS emergency room, the 12th by his organisation in the country, would help improve child survival.

He said that ChildLife had a presence in 67 hospitals across Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab and treated a million children annually free of charge through 11 emergency rooms in major government teaching hospitals and over 50 telemedicine satellite centres in district hospitals across Sindh and Balochistan.