A joint board comprising representatives of the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) will conduct a study of all major hospitals under the KMC to prepare a feasibility plan for upgrades at all the medical facilities. 

An agreement to this effect was reached on Tuesday as Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar paid a visit to the AKUH where he met with the health facility’s managing board. It was decided that once the plan was complete, the World Bank and other financial institutions would then be approached for assistance in its implementation.

In the meeting, according to the mayor, the AKUH team was briefed on the 13 major hospitals under the KMC, which include the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases and the Sobhraj Maternity Hospital.

He said the expertise and experience of the AKUH team would prove invaluable for effective upgrades at the KMC hospitals, particularly in the fields of nursing, infection control, human resources and emergency clinical facilities.

For the meeting, the mayor was accompanied by senior KMC officers while the AKUH representatives were Feroz Rasul, president and interim provost of AKUH; Johannes Theodorus Kedzierski, chief executive officer of AKUH; Shagufta S Hassan, chief operating officer for Clinical Laboratories and Outreach Services; and Karim Kassim Ali, the director finance for Pakistan and Afghanistan.