Ijaz Kakakhel
With a mission of a child-safe Pakistan an Emergency Room was established in PIMS Children hospital, which would provide free of cost treatment to all children.
In this regard a group of senior journalists visited the PIMS children’s Emergency Response center and appreciated the Child Life Foundation for replicating their emergency care model in Islamabad. Dr. Khalid Masood, Hospital Director, PIMS, FMTI Isla mabad told the visiting journalists that the upgraded children’s Emergency Room at PIMS was a result of a robust public-private partnership.
Under the PPP initiative, the ER’s area was expanded to 5000 square feet and its capacity has been increased from 12 to 30 beds to serve more children,” said Khalid.
The media persons were informed by General Manager Communications of CLF Shahzad Zaki that the foundation has been providing free emergency care and consultation to children across Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab for the past 11 years.
“This year we have achieved a landmark milestone by modernizing the children ER at PIMS. The impact of this ER will be huge as it will serve underprivileged children not only in the capital territory and Punjab but also from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan,” said Zaki.
Meanwhile, Chairman NEPRA Tauseef H. Farooqi also visited the CLF’s Emergency Room at PIMS and praised the paperless, automated model of care implemented by the foundation.“I came to know about the CLF’s cause under NEPRA’s Power with Prosperity initiative. Now that I have witnessed their work, I am quite impressed. The patient attendants that I talked to also expressed higher satisfaction levels with the quality of care given to their children.
The CLF has implemented the WHO-recommended emergency triage system and placed life-saving medical equipment and over 100 trained healthcare staff in the ER while qualified pharmacists are also available 24/7 to dispense free medicines to critical patients.
Dr. Khalid Masood, Hospital Director, PIMS told journalists that the hospital was established in 1985 and with passage of time the population was increased many fold. Therefore, there was a dire need to revamp the whole hospital and upgraded according to the modern requirements. Being a big hospital in federal capital, the Director PIMS said it should be a model hospital with more equipment. About the availability of staff at the hospital, Dr Khalid said that there was shortage of staff due to ban on new appointment.
