PIMS reforms: new ED Tanveer Khaliq to replace old equipment, plan thoracic surgery unit

Prof Dr Tanveer Khaliq, the new Executive Director of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad, has announced a set of reforms at the capital's largest public hospital, from replacing old equipment in surgery, medicine and dialysis to a new selection policy for house officers, ARY News reported on Saturday 10 October, citing PIMS spokesperson Sajid Abbasi.

The announcement comes weeks after the hospital was put under pressure by the deadly 26 August fire in its Mother and Child Hospital nursery, after which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif gave PIMS three months to carry out the inquiry's short-term safety fixes.

PIMS reforms: what the new ED has announced

1. Equipment replacement: ageing electromedical equipment will be replaced in phases, starting with General Surgery, Medicine and the Dialysis Unit.
2. Medicines: logistics procedures have been tightened so that medicines reach patients without interruption.
3. Procurement: buying systems for wards (inpatient departments) and the OPD have been upgraded.
4. Infrastructure and teaching: decisions have been taken to modernise hospital buildings and expand educational facilities.
5. Surgical training: specialised master's programmes in breast surgery, hepatobiliary surgery and minimal-access surgery have been launched in affiliation with a university.
6. Thoracic surgery: formal planning has started for a dedicated Department of Thoracic Surgery.
7. House officers: a new policy is meant to make house officer selection transparent.

The report gives no budget, no completion dates and no count of machines to be replaced, and it does not name the university behind the new master's programmes.

Why it matters

PIMS is the federal government's main teaching hospital in the capital and takes referrals from well beyond Islamabad. For those patients, the most practical items on the list are the first three: working machines in surgery and dialysis, and medicines that do not run out. Dialysis patients in particular depend on reliable equipment several times a week.

The training changes matter for young doctors. A selection policy that is published and transparent gives graduates a clearer route into a house job at PIMS, and the new master's programmes in three surgical subspecialties add training places in the capital. A separate thoracic surgery department would give chest and lung surgery a dedicated unit of its own.

Recent history at PIMS

• 26 August 2026: a fire in the nursery of the PIMS Mother and Child Hospital killed 14 newborns; a 15th, the only baby rescued, died in September. Our report on the fire and the prime minister's three-month deadline has the inquiry's findings.
• September 2026: a case of mpox was confirmed at PIMS, and the patient was kept in the infectious control ward.

The new executive director's list does not mention fire safety directly. We will update this story if PIMS publishes timelines or costs for the reforms, or reports on the safety deadline.

Finding care in Islamabad

For other public and private hospitals in the capital, see our Islamabad hospitals directory. If you travel in from Rawalpindi or further for regular treatment such as dialysis, our fuel cost calculator shows what each trip costs.