New health minister wants CHK trauma centre functional by October

Karachi

The newly-appointed provincial health minister, Dr Sikandar Mandhro, on Monday visited several health facilities in Karachi and expressed exasperation over absence of hospital staff including doctors, paramedics and lack of cleanliness. He stressed that slackness would not be tolerated at all in provision of health services to patients.

Dr Mandhro started off by visiting Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Trauma Centre of Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) and showed his displeasure because it wasn’t functional despite the completion of its due payment by the government.

The centre which was inaugurated by Pakistan People’e Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on December 24 last year, lies in wait to become functional by provincial authorities.

The minister summoned the project director and has asked him to wind up remaining tasks and make it fully functional by October 31 or else a huge fine would be levied under this pretext.

He mentioned that the government had invested billions for the construction of state of the art centre and even though several years have passed, the facility stood far from completion, which raised question at the seriousness of the authorities responsible for this stagnation.

Informing about the centre, Dr Mandhro said that it was equipped with latest technology and competent doctors and paramedics were being hired to aid patients.

Expressing annoyance over the lack of cleanliness at Civil Hospital, the minister directed Medical Superintendent Dr Jameel Siddiqui to improve the hygiene of wards and surroundings of hospital.

He also asked the administration to issue show-cause notices to absent doctors and paramedics and told the staff to wear uniforms so they could be distinguished from the non-staff. He also notified about the provision of medicines to all patients.

Dr Mandhro then visited Sindh Government Lyari General Hospital and expressed his satisfaction over presence of doctors and staff at the hospital but asked the administration to improve the hygienic conditions and health services.

It was said that the minister would continue his surprise visits to different health institutions within the city and province to ensure that the health department wasn’t lagging behind.