LAHORE: The health department has not included an `important scheme` of the Fatima Jinnah Medical College/Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the annual development programme (ADP), showing a zero `mercy` towards the patientswho are getting treatment in a very `hostile environment`.

The scheme was referred to the health department for upgrading the Urology Department of the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital which has been functioning for about a decade without human resource, infrastructure and many other important components.

It has been recommended that the FJMC/SGH should be upgraded to a medical university and a decision is likely in a couple of weeks.

However, the health department`s decision to `shelve thescheme` came at a time when many departments of the teaching institute are already not functioning properly because of several missing facilities which are considered necessary to get the university status.

The `mega teaching hospital` has no plastic surgery and pediatric surgery units. The hospital has an acute dearth of faculty, equipment and otherinfrastructure atitsneurosurgery, cardiology, psychiatry, neurology and paeds medicine departments. These departments are not running emergencies andreferring patients to other public hospitals.

Titled `Upgradation of the Urology Department, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore`, the scheme`s cost was estimated to be Rs197 million and forwarded to the health department in March 2015 to be added to the list of ADP schemes.

The documents pertaining to the PC-I shared many hard facts to sensitize health officials about the plight of patients, but they remained unmoved.

The training is mandatory forthe preparation of FCPS doctors at teaching institutions in accordance with the requirements mentioned in the policy and rules.

Unfortunately, there is not a single sanctioned post for the PGT at the Urology Department of the FJMC, which is a rare precedent.

Some PGTs have been `adopted` from other departments only as a formality. The FJMC/SGH had called for creating at least eight positions in the PC-I to meet the criteria set by the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP).

There are no sectioned posts of assistant professor, senior registrar, charge nurse, computer operator and technicians despite knowing the fact that the human resource is mandatory to run a unit.

At present, only a professor, an associate professor and a medical officer are providing surgical treatment to kidney patients.

In the PC-I, the institute had demanded creation of new positions, including one for an assistant professor, two for senior registrars, three for medical officers, eight for PGRs and 10 for charge nurses, to meet the minimum standard.

The department is also short of nine important surgical and medical equipments for urology or kidney related surgeries, including lithotripter/extra corporeal shockwave lithotripter (ESWL), holmium laser & diode laser, C-ARM, image intensifier and HIFU (high intensity focused ultrasound).

The institute had briefed theauthorities about the significance of equipments for patient-care stating that the ESWL has been introduced as an alternative and better approachthanthatofsurgery.

With the help of this machine, the stonesin the kidney and upper urinary tractare disintegrated and the patient can be treated without surgery on the basis of OPD.

Being a latest technique, Intracorporeal lithotripsy refers to the visualization of a calculus in the urinary tract and the simultaneous application of energy to fragment the stone(s) into either extractable or passable pieces.

Holmium laser helps surgeons for safe and effective procedure of patients, immediate relief of symptoms, little risk of bleeding or transfusion, outpatient procedure, etc.

A resectoscope is a surgical instrument used to remove tissue from the uterus, prostate, bladder or urethra. The resectoscope includes a wide angle microscope that allows a complete visualization of the surgical site.

The institute is also required a laparoscope as laparoscopic or `minimally invasive` surgery is aspecialized technique for performing procedures.

In traditional `open` surgery, the surgeon uses a single incision to enter into the abdomen. The laparoscope transmits images from the abdominal cavity to high-resolution video monitors in the operating room.

During the operation the surgeon watches detailed images of the abdomen on a monitor. This system allows the surgeon to perform same operations as traditional surgery but with smaller incisions.

However, laparoscopy can be performed under local or general anesthetize, depending on the nature of the procedure, making easier the examination of internal organs.

High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) was demanded due to the need of time as many innovative and latest changes have been developed in the recent decade for the prostate cancer treatment.

The FJMC stated that the scheme would not only cater to the needs of the people of Lahore but also that of the entire province.

It will also provide training facil-ities, research activities by doctors/ postgraduate studentsonthelatest and modern equipment. Such training shall be of international standard, which is mandatory for the MS & FCPS part-H trainees of urology, the documents said.

`It is requested the scheme may kindly be approved in the current financial year,` the FJMC/SGH appealed.

Health Special Secretary Salman Mufti said he would personally look into the issue as this teaching institute was going to get the varsity status.

He said it was a routine that many small-scale health schemes were not considered for the ADP because of financial or other issues.

He said currently the government was focusing mainly on making primary level health facilities with a sole objective to share the burden of teaching facilities, and for this reason, many important schemes like the upgradation of SGH`s urology unit were ignore d unintentionally.

`The health department will review the scheme in the best interest of patients on Monday (tomorrow),` Mr Mufti said.