‘We want to develop Civil Hospital Badin on the Indus Hospital model’

Karachi

Renowned cardiologist and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Indus Hospital Karachi, Dr Abdul Bari Khan, has vowed to convert the Civil Hospital Badin into a model hospital like his own health facility in Karachi, saying that very soon patients from Tharparkar to Thatta who were previously compelled to visit Karachi for basic medical treatment would be availing top-of-the-line health facilities near their homes.The Indus Hospital, Karachi took over the Civil Hospital Badin in February this year under the 'contracting out' scheme of the Sindh government and has since not only spent heavily on improvement of infrastructure, but has also been focusing on recruitment of medical and paramedical staff to ensure provision of quality health services for what would be a significant number of patients.

“We have replicated the service delivery model of the Indus Hospital Karachi at the Civil Hospital Badin and, since we started implementing our plan, the volume of patients has increased threefold; around 260 cesarean sections have already been performed free of charge, while hundreds of other patients are being treated at the hospital on a daily basis,” Dr Abdul Bari Khan told a news conference at the Civil Hospital Badin.Sindh Environment and Coastal Development Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Karim Khawaja, Dr Ahsanullah Wazir, Dr Suresh Kumar and other health department officials were also present.

The hospital in the coastal city of Sindh is expected to be moved to a newly-constructed 300-bed state-of-the-art facility in December this year, which would emerge as a referral center for thousands of critically-ill patients from Tharparkar to Thatta, added Dr Bari.

“In order to temporarily overcome the shortage of qualified and trained human resource at the hospital, we are introducing tele-medicine facility where an ECG being conducted in Badin would be seen by cardiologist in Karachi and timely advice would be given to physicians to save precious lives,” he said.

According to him, more money is usually spent on shifting patients to Karachi from far-flung areas of the province then the actual cost of treatment, while many patients die during the travel or soon after reaching their destination, before they even receive the required medical treatment.

“Having a top quality health facility here will not only save lives, but will also save crucial monetary resources of poor people,” he added.

Sindh Environment and Coastal Development Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro said the Civil Hospital Badin was the first of dozens of health facilities to be contracted out to private partners under the public-private partnerships and added that within three to four months, this model of health service delivery had proved to be a success.

“This model is also being implemented in Pubjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We have decided to follow it in Sindh as well,” he added.

“As the chairman of the Sindh Health Advisory Board, I have proposed contracting out some 30 to 35 more hospitals to private partners for better service delivery,” Dr Mandhro said.

Giving details of the newly-built building of the Civil Hosptial Badin, he claimed that it was a 300-bed facility that could be extended to 600 beds in future and added that it had been designed to meet the next 50 years’ needs of people of Badin and adjoining areas.

After completion in December this year, the newly built building of the CHB would be handed over to the Indus Hospital administration, which would relocate their Badin hospital into the new building to provide quality healthcare to thousands of poor patients, he added.

The director of the public-private partnership node, Dr Ahsanullah Wazir, told that the Indus Hosptial took over the management and operations of the CHB in February-March 2016 and the provincial government transferred Rs68 million for non-salary expenses to hospital, while Rs80 million were provided for essential construction and renovation of the dilapidated building of the hospital.

“The Indus hospital has started filling 290 vacant posts at the Civil Hospital Badin and so far 116 positions have been filled. No additional budget have so far been given to the Indus Hospital in this regard,” Dr Wazir said, adding that since taking over the health facility, the Indus Hospital administration had treated thousands of patients, who otherwise had to go to Karachi for treatment.

“Apart from the infrastructure improvement, the management systems, including the IT system, pharmacy and other information systems, have also been improved,” he said

He added that in 2016-17, Rs330 million had been earmarked for the non-salary expenses of the hospital, including Rs220 million for operational and Rs110 million for sanctioned vacant posts,” he added.

Earlier, Dr Abdul Bari Khan took Dr Sikandar Mandhro, Senator Karim Khawaja and other officials and journalists to a visit to the Civil Hospital Badin and apprised them of improvements in the service delivery. Consultant Dr Abbass Ali Shah briefed the visiting guests about the number of patients and medical services being provided to them at the hospital.