It is a great pleasure to write the preface for this edition and I am extremely indebted to God Almighty who has given me health and time after retirement from government service. For the last few years I am working on this new edition of the book and asking for opinion from different students and teachers for shortcomings and need for new topics to be added. It was surprising that Dr. Abu Talib after appearing in his FCPS-II exam committed to help me to rectifyits short comings which he faced on appearing in the exam. He produced a long list of topics for improving and updating different sections. It is the only time that I have benefited immensely from a person who has guided me from students ‘perspective.
In this edition. I have extensively worked to improve the national statistics which are still not available beyond year2012. I have included new guidelines for IMCI and new vaccination schedule and recommended injectable polio vaccine this year. The chapters on hematology, gastroenterology. nutrition, infectious diseases. social and preventivepediatrics, psychiatric disorders, metabolic disorders and genetics have been extensively revised and upgraded with recent advances and management. Three chapters on dermatology, pediatric surgery and poisoning have been updated.
The pediatric cardiology has been revised by Dr. Younus and new treatment schedule has been included and outdated portion has been deleted. Similarly, neonatology section has been revised and updated by Dr Quratul-Ain. Some portions have been deleted and few recent managements have been included but I still feel it is rapidly expanding and needs future revision. It is extremely laborious and time consuming to write even a single topic so it was not possible to revise the whole book. It only became possible with the help of Dr. Muhammad Idrees whose commitment and dedication for this book is beyond my imagination. He has worked tirelessly for implementing all the upgradation the book required, giving valuable suggestions and bringing hard copies for proof reading. I am extremely thankful to him for his valuable time. He took time out from his family life and private practice.
In this endeavour our commitment is for the benefit of our children, improving their health care, educate our future doctors and pediatricians, and update their knowledge and patient care. I shall be looking forward for valuable suggestions for improvement to be included in later editions.
In the end. I will fail in my duty if I don’t mention Paramount Books (Pvt.) Ltd. for their contribution in publishing this book.
Prof. Dr. Pervez Akbar Khan
