The history of Emergency Medicine in Pakistan is about to enter its next phase. We can simply call it as entering into the second decade of organized Emergency Medicine in Pakistan. This was in fact the result of a struggle that started so many years ago and now bearing fruits.
The struggle of EM in Pakistan actually got the real boost when finally College of Physicians and Surgeon (CPSP) accepted it as the subject for the training. It happened in 2011, and this year marked the end of first decade of EM in Pakistan. The hallmark of first decade of EM in Pakistan was the realization that Emergency Medicine is here to stay and to flourish. The changed mindset reflected in terms of increased number of training programs in Pakistan and also institutions realizing that a trained person in the Emergency Department can actually uplift the overall face of the hospital. This realization took a long time as the functioning of Emergency Department required trained doctors and nurses which was lacking and lack of financial incentive resulted in no one coming from outside the country.
Only a handful people started this struggle and these are the people, through their dedication, commitment, teamwork, mindset and attitude of not giving up change the course of EM history in Pakistan for good. The earlier days were marred by disappointments as the need for improving Emergency Department was seen as a war of turf and control and an attitude of keeping the status quo. The mind set of Emergency Physicians can never settle with status quo so the struggle was taken up by the private institutions for very obvious reasons.
The first decade of organized Emergency Medicine (2011 to 2021) was also replete with struggle to improve the training and to create the system of continuously updating our curriculum. Most of the people involved in the process of establishing Emergency Medicine came from Internal Medicine background and they had to struggle a lot to help shape up the EM in Pakistan. The small group of people had to do all by themselves, starting from caring for their own department to being involved with the College of Physicians and Surgeon’s in curriculum, to exam preparation, to taking exam and also representing the EM faculty across Pakistan so other institutions will get inspired.
The most joyful moment was to see our finished product making it to the finish line and started working as trained Emergency Medicine specialist. This gave a very positive impact to not just strengthen our resolve, but also helped to convince people that EM is not just here to stay but it is the real need of the time in Pakistan.
The first decade also saw other positive ramifications which included creating connection of EM in Pakistan with the world EM community. Our close relations with the Royal College of EM, Australasian College Faculty, International Federation of Emergency Medicine and similar world bodies resulted in creating more awareness in Pakistan and also improvement in the image of Pakistan on the world EM comradery.
The next decade is expected to be more challenging. New institutions will come on board and the quality improvement especially will be affected. There could be more voices and more channels to impact EM in Pakistan and efforts to unify them can be challenging. Our hope is our younger generation who is born in Emergency Medicine and with the mix of old and new we will Insha Allah make a difference. We are looking forward to this decade and also looking forward to creating alliances and making collaborations to improve the Emergency Care for the citizen of Pakistan.