Dr Shahid Ikram
Physician and Addiction Treatment Specialist
Dr. Shahid Ikram is the attending physician and addiction treatment specialist at Healing Door Rehab Center in Bani Gala, Islamabad. He is the clinician responsible for the medical safety of every patient who enters residential treatment at the center, from the moment of admission through to discharge.
Qualifications
Dr. Ikram holds an MBBS degree and has completed advanced training through the Universal Treatment Curriculum (UTC), a globally standardized program for healthcare professionals working in addiction treatment settings. The UTC certification is significant because it specifically trains physicians to manage the medical complexities unique to patients with substance use disorders, complexities that a general practice MBBS alone does not cover in depth.
These include the clinical management of withdrawal across different substance categories (opioid withdrawal presents very differently from stimulant or alcohol withdrawal), the pharmacological interactions between psychiatric medications and substances of abuse, the medical screening protocols needed to identify liver damage, cardiovascular risk, malnutrition, and infectious disease in patients whose health has been compromised by years of active drug use, and the clinical decision-making required when a patient’s medical and psychiatric conditions are unstable simultaneously.
What He Does in the Treatment Process
When a patient is admitted to Healing Door, Dr. Ikram conducts the initial medical assessment. This is not a formality. It establishes a clinical baseline that determines how detoxification will be managed, what medications are safe to prescribe, and whether any urgent medical conditions require parallel treatment.
During detoxification, he provides continuous medical monitoring. Opioid withdrawal, for example, involves a predictable but physically demanding sequence of symptoms including severe muscle pain, gastrointestinal distress, insomnia, and cardiovascular fluctuations that require medical management. Alcohol withdrawal carries the additional risk of seizures and delirium tremens, which can be fatal without proper clinical oversight. Methamphetamine withdrawal, while not typically life-threatening in the way alcohol withdrawal can be, produces severe psychological symptoms including suicidal ideation and psychotic features that demand close coordination between the physician and the psychiatric team.
Dr. Ikram manages all of this on-site. He also handles routine medical care for patients throughout their residential stay, because patients in rehab do not stop having medical needs just because they are also in treatment for addiction. Dental pain, respiratory infections, blood pressure management, diabetes monitoring, skin conditions, anything that requires a physician’s attention during the 60 to 90 day residential stay falls within his scope.
Background in Home-Based Clinical Care
Before joining Healing Door, Dr. Ikram spent three years leading Home Care Health Services, a medical company providing physician and nursing services to patients in their homes. Running a home-based medical service requires a specific kind of clinical self-reliance: the physician makes decisions on-site, without the immediate backup of a hospital environment, lab results in hand, or a specialist down the hall.
That experience translates directly to residential rehab, where the physician must assess, decide, and act within the facility itself. Patients in withdrawal do not wait for a scheduled hospital visit. A medical complication during detox does not pause until morning rounds. Dr. Ikram’s background means Healing Door has a physician who is trained and experienced in making clinical decisions in real time, in settings where the physician is the first and often only line of medical response.
Why This Matters for Your Decision
A rehab center without a qualified physician on its clinical team is asking you to take a risk with your family member’s physical safety. Detoxification, particularly from opioids, alcohol, or benzodiazepines, carries real medical risk. Having a UTC-certified physician managing that process is not a premium feature. It is a minimum clinical standard.
Contact Healing Door at 0314-9922547 to discuss your family member’s medical situation before admission.