The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and a Chinese firm, China Sinopharm International Corporation, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Friday to upgrade KMC-run hospitals and provide quality medical facilities to the residents of Karachi.
The MoU was signed at an event held at the old KMC building that was attended by senior officials of the Chinese company and the municipal authority.
Talking to the media after the signing ceremony, Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar said the Chinese company would offer assistance in efforts to upgrade and modernise medical facilities run by the KMC.
“This is the first step towards bringing our public hospitals at par with global standards. Under the terms of the agreement, machinery, medical equipment and furniture will be provided for 13 KMC-run hospitals in the first phase of the programme.”
With the help of the Chinese firm, he said, mobile units would also be introduced to provide medical facilities to citizens in emergencies.
Akhtar said the staff of the medical firm would also train employees of the KMC-run hospitals, adding that a delegation of the company’s officials had already visited the hospitals.
The mayor, however, told the media personnel that the project was part of an agreement between the two countries’ governments and was subject to approval from the government of Pakistan.
Akhtar said the Chinese firm would also provide e-health facilities to the people of Karachi and introduce data
collection methods to improve provision of medical facilities.
A technical committee of the company would also visit the hospitals to make an assessment of the requirements, he added.
The mayor said the KMC would decide as to how this firm would impart training to doctors and nurses of the hospitals, adding that he would personally visit the hospitals and collect the required data.