Mayor vows to take all steps to improve services at Spencer Eye Hospital

Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Monday morning paid a surprise visit to Spencer Eye Hospital to check facilities at the health facility running under the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).

He was accompanied by KMC Metropolitan Commissioner Syed Afzal Zaidi and others. Calling Spencer Eye Hospital, an asset of Karachi, Wahab said he would not allow it to be destroyed.

“The presence of all doctors and paramedical staff in the hospital should be ensured. Those guilty of negligence should not be forgiven in any case,” he said. He stated that improving the affairs of the medical institutions under the KMC was his priority and he would take all necessary steps in this regard.

Wahab inspected various wards, operating theatres, refraction rooms and doctor's rooms at the hospital and checked the attendance register. He inquired about the medical procedures used in the hospital and directed the administration to adopt modern procedures for eye treatment and update all the equipment and machinery.

He recalled that in the past, Spencer Eye Hospital was famous all over the world for eye treatment and patients from far and wide would come there for treatment. He said cornea transplantation was done regularly at the hospital, which restored eyesight of a large number of people.

This hospital was the only hospital in Karachi and Pakistan where the best and most experienced eye surgeons provided services and most complex operations were successfully performed, the mayor remarked. “If attention had been paid to the hospital in the past, this hospital would have been providing the best eye treatment facilities even today,” he said.

Wahab also met patients at the hospital and asked them about their problems. He said monitoring committees consisting of public representatives had been formed for the KMC-run hospitals.

In light of those committees’ reports and suggestions, the provision of medical facilities at the KMC’s hospitals would be improved, he said. The mayor said Spencer Eye Hospital was established on an area of more than one acre which included staff accommodation.

All the wards of the hospital should be fully functional, he said, adding that utilising the facilities available for eye operations in the hospital was important because a large number of people who could not afford expensive treatment of eye diseases in private hospitals came here and the hospital was a ray of hope for them.

He said cleanliness and security arrangements in Spencer Eye Hospital would also be improved and better facilities would be provided to the patients coming to the OPD. He directed the hospital administration to honestly fulfil their duties and provide the best possible facilities to the patients.

Wahab vowed that all the requirements to make Spencer Eye Hospital functional would be fulfilled so that the citizens could get the best possible eye care. The mayor said the KMC spent a lot of money on providing medical facilities to the citizens, and hence its hospitals should be useful for the citizens. He also ordered beautification of the lawn of the hospital.