Unhappy at PIMS, family shifts injured doctor to CMH

ISLAMABAD: Head of the department of cardiology at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Dr Shahid Nawaz, who continues to be in critical condition ever since Saturday’s attack in which he was targeted by unidentified gunmen, was shifted from PIMS to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) on Sunday night in compliance with the wishes of his family members, who intended to eventually have him airlifted to the United Kingdom.
In an earlier development, the four-member medical board, constituted on the prime minister’s directive to assess Dr Shahid’s condition and available options for his further treatment, had termed his condition “highly risky” and had dismissed the need to shift him from PIMS. Yet, the board suggested that the final decision should be left to the wishes of his family.
Immediately upon hearing the board’s recommendation, Dr Shahid’s family got him discharged from the PIMS and shifted him to the CMH at their own risk. “The family has initiated the process to eventually take him to the UK for treatment,” the hospital’s spokesman Dr Waseem Khawaja stated.
Close friends and acquaintances of Dr Shahid told this scribe that the family’s decision was driven by the absence of even the most basic treatment protocols at PIMS. “There may be no hope for his survival, but we will at least have the satisfaction of knowing that all requisite tests have been duly performed in line with internationally-prescribed treatment protocols,” a close friend of Dr Shahid stated while requesting anonymity.
It has been learnt that the CT-Scan at PIMS, which is meant to be the prime medical institution of the federal capital, is not working. Its operation theatre does not have even such basic equipment as an operating microscope. The Electroencephalography (EEG) machine, which monitors brain activity and assesses the extent of damage to the brain, is also out of order. “The dilemma of doctors at PIMS is that they cannot even declare him brain dead because the EEG machine, which establishes brain death, is not working and they do not have evidence to declare him so,” Dr Shahid’s friend said in anguish.
Another close acquaintance of Dr Shahid pointed out that the family was fully aware of how critical his condition was but had still chosen the risk of having him shifted, “which clearly tells you how dejected they were at PIMS. If this is the standard of care available to a senior cardiologist, whose own daughter is also serving the same institution as a doctor, the predicament of a common man is only self-explanatory.”
Even if Dr Shahid does not require such tests, given his precarious condition, does anybody at PIMS care about the hundreds of patients whose survival depends on the availability of such diagnostic equipment and services? The answer is apparently not.