Over 3,500 patients with gastro reported at PIMS emergency after ‘iftar’

Islamabad : The incidence of gastroenteritis has been on the rise since the advent of Ramazan and the hospitals in the region including Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences have been receiving significant influx of patients with the problem after ‘iftar’.In last two weeks, well over 3,500 patients with gastroenteritis have been reported at the PIMS emergency department after ‘iftar’, said Deputy Director at PIMS Dr. Wasim Ahmed Khawaja while talking to ‘The News’ on Friday.He added majority of gastro patients reported at PIMS emergency department after ‘iftar’ were with complaints of vomiting, diarrhoea, dehydration and pain in abdomen. It has been found that the number of patients with gastro is on the rise mainly because of unhealthy diet plans being followed by individuals, he said.Most of the reported patients put extra burden on their stomach at the time of ‘iftar’ after fasting for over 15 hours, he said. He however added that since the advent of Ramazan, the outpatient department of gastroenterology department has been receiving one-half of the patients it receives in routine.To a query, he said the cardiology department at PIMS is receiving almost the same number of patients in Ramazan as were being reported in routine. “Daily OPD of cardiac patients is 450 to 500 and on average, 100 to 120 patients are reported in cardiac emergency.”He said the PIMS staff in all departments including emergency and cardiology has been put on high alert in Ramazan while the PIMS Executive Director Dr. Raja Amjad has deputed extra staff including doctors and paramedics in emergency department to deal with extra burden of patients reaching hospital after ‘iftar’.Additional quantity of medicines and drips, intravenous fluids has also been supplied to emergency department of the hospital, said Dr. Khawaja.

from The News International - Islamabad http://bit.ly/2K2PMh0