Abdus Salam Khan,MD FACP, July 2012
Emergency care is one of the most important aspects of medical care for very obvious reasons. This area is so for not developed at all in Pakistan, for too many reason. As the awareness of the people is increasing about the care they receive in the hand of doctors and nurses and other professionals in the field of medicine, it is time for us to be looking at emergency medicine with the same vigor and concern that we have for other disciplines.
The world has developed and advanced its emergency care delivery and is continuously improving different aspects of emergency medical care including pre-hospital care and Ambulance services. Concerned citizen do understand that no matter how difficult it may be, we still have to make sure that we provide acceptable level of emergency care to all people of Pakistan regardless of their ability to pay for it.
Physicians community atlarge so far has shown little interest when it comes to emergency care. One of the reasons is that the whole healthcare system is in disarray and need of massive efforts and so the emergency care in its infancy in Pakistan gets neglected. At the Government level the policy making and resources allocation becomes the very obvious hindrance and lead to continued inertia when it comes to developing emergency services.
Since emergency medical services is the basic components of any health care system, it is the duty of medical community to raise the awareness about the emergency medical care within the community and also educate all segment of the population and thus help create an environment that is conducive to the creation of EMS in Pakistan.
In order to achieve that same goal we are putting out the series of educational and informational material. Our hope is that it will create a better understanding in the mind of physicians, nurses, paramedics, policy makers, officials and all citizens at large regarding this important aspect of medical care and thus contribute in the overall level of care provided to our fellow citizens.
We are touching on this topic to start a dialog among all members of our medical community and all people of Pakistan. I would very much be delighted to receive any input from you as it will gives us all the motivation to be part of decision making and solution rather than being part of the problem.
I can be reached at askhan65@yahoo.com