Bethania Hospital, Sialkot

Bethania Hospital (Urdu: بیت عنیاہ سپتال‬‎) is located in Sialkot, Pakistan. It is a medical facility owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore. The hospital treats 60,000 patients a year, 5,000 of which are TB patients. It has a staff of 130 and occupies an area of 300,000 sq. ft.[1]

Sister Isobel Moran took over the hospital transforming it into a thriving facility with the addition of extra 50 beds, high standards of affordable care, the introduction of surgical procedures, and obstetric services and improved anaesthetic and intensive care services.[2]

Direct Relief International has supported the facility from 2002 to 2005, most recently with a $1.3 million medical assistance shipment in September 2005.[3]

Tuberculosis program

Since its establishment in 1964, the hospital has worked extensively to detect and treat TB patients in the region. It is a 215-bed frontline and referral hospital, providing medical and surgical services. There is a specialized TB unit with 100 beds.[4]

In 1991, the Government of Pakistan approved the hospital as a charitable institution. The hospital also receives free medicines for TB treatment under the National TB Control Programme. This enables it to provide free treatment to TB patients.[5]

Ilyas Gill was the manager of the tuberculosis program at Bethania Hospital in 2011.[6]

Every year 350,000 people in Pakistan develop TB. Treatment defaulting is one of the major causes of the failure of TB control programs. A study was carried out in Bethania Hospital from May - July 2006. In the Hospital defaulting rates are as high as 72% for the standard 12 months course. The study revealed the urgent need for a health education campaign to convince the general population that tuberculosis is curable.[7]

TB is a major cause of ill health in Pakistan. Research carried out in Bethania Hospital in 1996-97 was able to contribute to better understanding the problem of low treatment adherence among patients.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Report on donation of medicines
  2. ↑ Catholic Health Australia website accessed 3 February 2015
  3. ↑ Direct Relief International October 9, 2005 Archived April 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, vol. 58:318; 2008
  5. ↑ AsiaNews.it 22 August 2016
  6. ↑ CathNews India, June 29, 2011
  7. ↑ Social Science and Medicine 1995 Dec; 41(12):1685-92
  8. ↑ Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, vol. 51:3; 2001

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