CHITRAL: The Burn, Trauma and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery Center, established in District Headquarter (DHQ) Hospital Chitral, with the financial support of the Patrip Foundation could not be made operational even after three years of construction.
Commandant Chitral Scouts inaugurated the Centre in September 2016, after a foreign donor organization raised millions of rupees for the burn centre.
The Centre was handed over to the DHQ Hospital Chitral in April this year, but unfortunately, till now, the burned injured patients are not being treated at the centre and are referred to Peshawar.
During last week, eight people of a family were injured in a gas cylinder explosion in Ayun village. They were brought to Chitral hospital but no treatment was provided at the Burn Center due to the lack of facilities and staff and thus the injured were referred to Plastic Surgery Center Hayatabad Peshawar and seven out of the scorched people have died so far.
According to MS DHQ, Dr Akbar Shah, the Burn Centre was opened in April, but still, the government has to hire specialized staff and equipment. “We wanted to treat the victims of Ayun tragedy, but we do not have specialized staff at the Burn Centre,” he said. The general surgeon of the hospital said that some 92 posts in this Burn, Trauma and Reconstructive Plastic Surgery Center are vacant. “We have sent SNE (Schedule of New Expenditure) and as and when these posts created by provincial government we will fully function this burn center Dr Akbar Shah added.
Dr Ijaz, said that when the skin is burned, the patient becomes very weak and needs extreme care. “Since we do not have the intensive care unit for such patients, we didn’t want to the risk and referred them to Peshawar though we had tried our best to treat them here.”
The people of Chitral have urged the provincial government to immediately deploy staff at the Burn and Plastic Surgery Center at DHQ Chitral, so that the victims of such unfortunate incidents couldn’t be deprived of proper treatment in their own area.(Additional Input From INP)
