Ex-Pims Burn Centre Head Demands Probe Into Facility Collapse

News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Amid mounting scrutiny over the tragic deaths of 15 newborns in a recent fire incident, the former head of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) burn care centre, Prof Dr Tariq Iqbal, has formally appealed to federal health authorities to initiate a high-level inquiry into the alleged complete collapse of the specialised medical facility.
In a detailed letter addressed to the federal health minister, Prof Iqbal contended that significant structural and functional modifications implemented following his retirement have severely crippled the institution’s capacity to deliver critical care. Having served at Pims for 35 years across various clinical and administrative roles, and previously holding the office of vice chancellor at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU), he emphasized that the burn centre was originally inaugurated by the president of Pakistan in December 2007 as a premier, dedicated unit for severe thermal injuries and postgraduate medical training.
The surfacing of these allegations compounds the institutional pressure facing Pims, which is already reeling from public outrage and administrative investigations following the deadly neonatal ward fire. Healthcare advocates and civil society members argue that the degradation of specialized medical infrastructure highlights systemic governance failures and a chronic lack of oversight within major public sector hospitals in the federal capital.
Federal health authorities are now expected to review the formal petition and face mounting pressure to constitute an independent committee to probe the administrative decisions behind the burn centre’s alleged decline, with stakeholders demanding strict accountability to safeguard patient welfare across public healthcare institutions.