Paediatric emergencies: ChildLife spends Rs 500 million on child healthcare

With the annual budget of Rs 500 million, ChildLife Foundation has entered into a partnership with Sindh government to provide state of the art health care facilities to poor and needy child patients in the province. Syed Asad Agha, Deputy General Manager Operations of the foundation shared the details of ongoing and upcoming projects related to children healthcare in the province on Friday in which he told Business Recorder that the journey of saving little lives began in 2010, when record floods devastated the country. He said the influx of patients to hospitals increased to an alarming extent that left the emergencies overcrowded.
Everyday, he said, around 1500 children are getting treatment from the Emergencies of CHK, NICH and GHK-5. Childlife Foundation's Emergency Rooms (ERs) are equipped with cardiac monitors, defibrillators, resuscitation and phototherapy units, and well stocked pharmacies. He said treatment of children at the ERs is free of cost.
Asad said some 1.8 million children have been treated since 2011 in the emergencies of Civil Hospital, NICH and Sindh Government Hospital Korangi-5, to date. The survival rate of critically-ill children in emergency rooms has been improved from 15 to 94 percent.
He said CNN portrayed the situation of Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) as deplorable, Iqbal Adamjee who is one the philanthropists watched documentary and approached Dr Nadeeruddin Mahmood, a well-known Paediatrician practicing in Karachi for joining hands to improve the Children Emergency Room at Civil Hospital Karachi with the vision to provide quality care to children in Pakistan who are at their imminent risk of life.
He said that in view of the high mortality rate of children in Pakistan, a group of philanthropists came forward to form ChildLife foundation in 2010 and the Foundation with the partnership of Sindh government rebuilt 22-bed children emergency of Civil Hospital Karachi in 2011 and treated over 0.5 million children by the end of 2017.
Asad underscored that children emergency at CHK covers the densely-populated areas of district south including Aram Bagh, Doli Khata, Ranchore Line, Jacob Line, Millat Nagar, Ramswamy, Ghanchi Para, Nanak Wara, Gari Khata, Bohrapir, Ratan Talao, Delhi Colony and Lunda Bazar.
He said ChildLife Foundation also entered into partnership with SINA Trust in 2012 to provide free of cost treatment to children in clinics located in urban slums of Karachi. These 27 clinics are operational in Baldia Town, Old Sabzi Mandi, Machar Colony, Ittehad colony, Mewashah, Paposh, Shirin Jinnah Colony, Jumma Goth, Saindad Goth, Yousuf Arfani Goth, Zareena Colony, Moach Goth, Yousuf Goth, A.M.J Pipri, Yousuf Shahab Goth, Khairabad, Majeed Colony, Khair Muhammad Goth, Hilal e Ahmer, North Nazimabad, Kakapir Village, Koonkar Goth, Mubarak Village, Bilal Colony and treated 2.5 million patients till June 2017.
Later in 2013, he said, government of Sindh approached ChildLife Foundation to replicate Emergency Room (ER) model in 55-bed children emergency in National Institute of Child Health as well where more than 100,000 children treated in first year of its operation. In addition to the ERs, Asad also shared that the ChildLife Foundation has also initiated Preventive Health Program in collaboration with BRAC in 2015 by establishing training centres to highlight the need that prevention is better than cure.
Through a patient analysis at NICH, it was revealed that 40 percent of patients coming to Emergency Room were residents of Korangi. Hence, in 2016, 80-bed Children Emergency Room was established in Korangi which is the largest paperless children ER in Pakistan.
To supervise the doctors round the clock, pilot Telemedicine setup has been established at Sindh Government Hospital UP Mor. Keeping in view the need of documented evidence of the care given, ChildLife Foundation developed a special software called A2SL- Automate to Save Lives.
Sharing the details of recently inaugurated project, Asad said, 54-bed children emergency in Lyari General Hospital made operational last month. With this newly-established emergency, adjoining areas of Moosa Lane, Bihar Colony, Chakiwara, Old Kalri/Juna Kalri and Panjguri Mohallah will also be covered.
In addition to the existing ERs, 50-bed children emergency in Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Karachi and 54-bed in Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana and 50-bed children emergency in Peoples Medical College Hospital, Nawabshah are the upcoming projects to be made operational in next couple of months. He said ChildLife Foundation would be managing Children Emergency Rooms in all government teaching hospitals in Sindh by the end of 2018 that means nine ERs with 500-beds, treating 1.2 million children per year and all this free of cost.