HFH gets back infectious diseases ward

Rawalpindi: The Department of Infectious Diseases here at Holy Family Hospital (HFH) that was reduced to a 26-bedded facility has been given back its 70-bedded ward and 8-bedded high dependency unit (HDU) to deal with patients coming to the hospital with infectious diseases.After the prime minister’s visit to Holy Family Hospital on January 7 this year, the 70-bedded ward of DID was handed over to the paediatrics department at the HFH to solve the problem of shortage of space at the paeds department. The HDU of the DID was also taken back though later, the DID was given 13 rooms each having two beds to cater to the needs of patients reaching hospital with infectious diseases.In May this year, the DID asked for space to cater to the needs of patients reaching hospital with infectious diseases and it was informed by the HFH administration that it would be given its ward and HDU back soon.Last week, the HFH administration handed over 70-bedded ward and HDU to the DID enabling the department to operate with its full strength, said Head of DID at HFH Professor Dr. Muhammad Mujeeb Khan while talking to ‘The News’ on Friday.It is important that after severe nature of dengue fever outbreaks occurred in town, the RMC administration in August 2014 under the supervision of the then RMC Principal Professor Dr. Muhammad Umar planned to establish a complete infectious diseases department that got operational in 2015.The DID was established specifically to provide treatment to patients with any of the communicable diseases like dengue fever, Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever, Swine Flu and Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis. It was the first department of infectious diseases established in public sector in the Punjab province.In case a dengue fever outbreak hits population in this region of the country this year too, the DID with its 70-bedded ward and HDU would be able to cater to the needs of patients well, said Dr. Mujeeb.The DID at HFH has been considered as the best healthcare set-up for management of dengue fever and like diseases and in the peak season of dengue fever transmission in last four years, it managed 150 to 200 patients in its ward at a time.The DID had also been providing treatment to patients reaching hospital from AJK, the federal capital and from districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa particularly during dengue fever outbreaks in the past, said Dr. Mujeeb.Data collected by ‘The News’ has revealed that in 2018, the DID received and provided treatment to nearly 3000 patients from all across Pakistan including some international travellers. Nearly half of the patients, 1401, were from Rawalpindi while 987 were from Islamabad and nearly 250 from AJK, 94 from Attock, 84 from Chakwal and 64 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwah province.In 2018, the DID provided treatment to as many as 2506 dengue fever patients, 229 measles patients, 85 Influenza A H1N1 patients and 39 CCHF patients apart from patients of other communicable diseases including tetanus, diphtheria and chikungunya.

from The News International - Islamabad https://ift.tt/2JiPkcm