Mission Statement

Pediatric Surgery in Pakistan

The first dedicated pediatric surgery unit was established in 1960 at Jinnah Central Hospital (later named as Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center) Karachi. It was later upgraded to National Institute of Child Health which was under administrative control of Federal Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Health. In initial days pediatric surgery was managed by the general surgeons with special interest in pediatric surgery. In 1988 the first MS and later in 1991 the first Fellow of College of Physicians & Surgeons Pakistan joined the team of pediatric surgeons. They were trained in Pakistan through a structured residency program at par with international standards.

Pediatric surgery progressed at fast pace with increase in the number of centers and quality of surgical services provided by trained professionals. At present there are about 250 fully trained pediatric surgeons in Pakistan providing care to about 36 million pediatric population of the country in more than 60 pediatric surgical centers in Pakistan. Pediatric surgeons has kept pace with the advances in other countries and now most centers are providing a variety of pediatric surgical services that include General pediatric surgery, Neonatal surgery, Minimally invasive surgery, Pediatric urology, Reconstructive surgery for congenital birth defects, Pediatric burns care, Pediatric Trauma. Pediatric orthopedics etc.

Pediatric renal transplant, Bone marrow transplant and recently liver transplant has been started in few centers in Pakistan. Trained Pediatric surgeons are part of such teams. Pediatric cardiac surgery services are also provided in selected centers in major cities. Pediatric Surgeons are working with firm commitment to the mission statement that is “Provide world class care to pediatric surgical patients in Pakistan through research & innovation”.