Dental Tribune Pakistan Edition No.5, 2016

INTERVIEW Most of hospitals lack anaesthesia facilities: Prof Tipu Sultan 2016 Pakistan Edition DENTAL TRIBUNE 09 September Criticises CPSP for compromising quality of trainers and trainees By Azizullah Sharif R ENOWNED anaesthetist, Prof Tipu Sultan said that it was an irony that although owners of most of hospitals across the country are doctors, majority of them have compromised the quality in their healthcare facilities, whether it is their surgical, gynaecology, anaesthesiology or any other ward or department. He was also critical of College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP), saying that the college controlling 64 disciplines of post- graduation by conducting examinations and overviewing their training programmes which are supposed to be structured throughout the country, yet the quality of both the trainers and trainees in most of the disciplines have been compromised. "In fact, there is an internal management crisis in the CPSP," he deplored. Prof Tipu Sultan, who was unanimously elected as the maiden chairperson of Sindh Healthcare Commission at its meeting held recently, expressed these views in an interview with the Dental Tribune. Prof Tipu Sultan, who is commonly known as ‘Baba-e-Anaesthesia’ in the medical profession, did his MBBS from Dow Medical College, received D.A. (Diploma in Anaesthesia) in 1973, got training in anaesthesia from England's Charing Cross Hospital and fellowship from Royal College of Anaesthesia in early 1976, joined his alma mater (DMC) as assistant professor in 1976 where he established anaesthesia department and later converted it into a post-graduation centre which has, so far, produced 300 anaesthetists. Of them, he has the singular honour of producing as many as 218 anaesthetists which is highest in Pakistan under one person and under one department. It means that of around total 1,250 anaesthetists available in the country, about one-fourth of them have been trained and produced by Prof Tipu Sultan alone, and it for this very reason that he is known in the medical profession as ‘Baba-e-Anaesthesia’. Half of the anaesthetists produced by him are working in Karachi while remaining are serving in different parts of Sindh, Balochistan, Saudi Arabia, Muscat, Dubai, etc. He had also served as medical superintendent of Civil Hospital, Karachi, elected councilor of CPSP from Sindh and the founding principal of Bahria Medical and Dental College. During his association with the Bahria Medical College, he was also instrumental in establishing its faculty and getting the college's building shifted to Defence Housing Authority's Phase-II from its previous location which was near Dalmia Cement Factory. The most interesting, rather cherished aspect of Prof Tipu Sultan's life was that when he entered into the premises of DMC in 1962, the premier medical college of the country, to do his MBBS, his mother Dr Atia Saheba was already there to greet him as a final-year student of the same institution. Asked what measures he intends to take in his capacity as chairperson of Sindh Healthcare Commission against the specialists who are charging exorbitant fees from patients, Prof Tipu said that he will, definitely, like to rationalize their fee so that people belonging to low-income group could also benefit from their expertise. To another query, whether the provincial healthcare commission would ensure that all medical practitioners must display their PMDC's (Pakistan Medical and Dental Council) registration numbers conspicuously on their clinics' boards as well as on their letterheads used as prescriptions, he said that though it was already mandatory under the PMDC's rules, the provincial healthcare commission would ensure that the council's rules are implemented in letter and spirit. Asked when the healthcare commission would start implementing its terms of reference (ToR) which include accreditation and registration of all healthcare centres (both private and public), all medical stores, laboratories and bringing an end to the menace of quackery, etc., he said that it will start functioning as soon as its chief executive officer is appointed from amongst grade 20 officers and its head office and regional offices are set up. Both the provincial health minister and secretary health are making their endeavours in this regard, he added. DUHS: About the DUHS which is without vice chancellor for the last 10 months or so, Prof Tipu Sultan remarked: "Law of the land has become a mockery as in the case of appointment of DUHS vice chancellor rules and regulations of PMDC, HEC, Sindh and federal governments' are being openly flouted." Replying to a question, he said that it was mandatory upon anaesthetists to remain present at hospitals as long as the patients whom they administer anaesthetic recover from the effects of anaesthesia and become stable. ILL-EQUIPPED: Asked if all the hospitals of the country are equipped with necessary anaesthesia monitors, gadgets and proper recovery rooms, he replied in the negative, saying that except for a few major hospitals, rest of healthcare facilities are without such facilities. He also admitted that portable anaesthesia machines that an anaesthetist carry to a hospitals lacking necessary anaesthesia equipments usually did not work properly and as such their results cannot be relied upon. Asked that why a huge number of doctors used to prefer to become anaesthetists under his supervision, he replied that since there is no glamour and no money in the field of anaesthesiology as compared to surgery and other Prof Tipu Sultan specialties only the `dropouts' used to become anaesthetists as well as due his open door policy of accepting graduates from any college of Sindh. Talking proudly about his students, he said that they still come to him for doing refresher courses which he organizes twice a year for them at his family's farm, located in Koohi Goth, Malir, Deh Landhi. Prof Tipu Sultan in whose family there are 42 doctors, starting from her mother Dr Atia, her children and their children. His two brothers - Prof Sirajudaula Syed, Dr Shershah Syed - are prominent p a t h o l o g i s t a n d g y n a e c o l o g i s t , respectively, while his five sisters - Chand Bibi, Shaheen Zafar are gynacologists at Malir's Atia Hospital and Liaquat National Hospital (LNH); Afia Zafar is the head of Aga Khan University's Pathology department; Safia Zafar (Professor of Anaesthesia at Dow University of Health Sciences) and Ghausia is housewife and whose husband is an assistant professor at LNH. Besides, Prof Tipu's two sons are also doctors - one of them is an anaesthetist and the other is an orthopaedic surgeon. Son of late Syed Abu Zafar, who in 1948 established Ghazi Mohammad Bin Qasim School in Lyari's Agra Taj Colony for imparting free education to the children of the poor locality, Prof Tipu Sultan and his family members have now set up Malir University of Science and Technology (MUST) at Koohi Goth, Malir-Landhi. The university of which he is chancellor will kick off in September and despite being in private sector its fee structure will be at par with Karachi University's evening programme's fees. Happiness is your dentist telling you it won’t hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill. ~ Johnny Carson

Dental Tribune Pakistan Edition No.5, 2016

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