Sindh to boost JPMC budget, regularise staff

Sindh’s government has decided to increase the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre’s (JPMC) allocation for medicines to Rs9 billion in the upcoming financial year’s budget, which the chief minister will present in the provincial assembly next month, said Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah on Monday.

“As for regularisation of [the JPMC’s] neurosurgery department employees, the government believes in providing jobs and better working conditions to the working class. Hopefully, these employees will be regularised within a short span of time.”

Shah was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the JPMC’s 53rd Annual Medical Symposium. Over 4,000 experts, researchers, doctors and surgeons from countries around the world, including Italy and the UK, and from different cities of Pakistan are attending the conference, whose theme for this year is ‘Health Promotion: Innovation in Medical Care’.

Sharing of experiences and learning from the expertise of each other will be the focus of dozens of training workshops, scientific sessions and conferences during the annual moot, said its organisers.

Best hospital

The information minister said that even Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who is very critical of the Sindh government, is full of praise for the JPMC, which shows that this facility is the best performing hospital not only in Sindh but in the entire country.

“The CJP is very critical of the Sindh government’s performance, but the only thing he praises in the province is the JPMC’s performance... Justice Nisar not only praised the hospital but also gifted them Rs100,000.”

Claiming that the Sindh government is the best performing provincial administration in the entire country, Shah said they have increased the annual grant of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases from Rs700 million to Rs7 billion, while budgetary allocations for the JPMC and other institutions have also been increased manifold to provide more facilities to the poor.

Congratulating JPMC Executive Director Dr Seemin Jamali for being awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for running the largest health care facility of the country in an amicable manner, the minister hoped that managements of other public hospitals across Sindh would follow her example in serving people like the JPMC administration does.

Award winners

Health Secretary Dr Fazlullah Pechuho termed the JPMC “an institute of award-winning people”, three of whose doctors were conferred with the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz for their tremendous services in the field of health. He hoped that more doctors and experts from the hospital will be selected for highest civil awards next year.

Praising the JPMC’s radiology department for its services, especially department head Prof Dr Tariq Mahmood, the health secretary said the expertise of the radiology department will be used at the Lyari General Hospital, which is in a complete shambles and needs immediate improvement. “Mahmood should help us provide better radiological services there.”

Pechuho also lauded the leadership of Dr Seemin in running the hospital in an effective manner, saying that the provincial government will promote doctors and staff of the JPMC to the next grades, provide more funds to the hospital and support the institute in becoming the best health facility of the world.

Annual report

In her annual report, Dr Seemin presented the achievements of the JPMC, including millions of patients treated in the hospital’s casualty department and various wards and clinics during the past year. She said the hospital grew and expanded in terms of patient care, despite facing difficulties and other issues.

“The JPMC’s achievements are remarkable: it acquired a CyberKnife, a PET scan machine and other equipment; it is the first institute that was allowed to start postgraduate training in the fields of endocrinology and emergency medicine and it catered to the needs of millions of people during the past one year.”

She urged the provincial government to promote the hospital staff awaiting promotions for the past seven years, to replace the decades-old equipment in different wards and to provide on-campus residential facilities to doctors and nurses so they could serve the patients without any delay.  

Medical moot

Eminent psychiatrist and convener of the JPMC’s annual symposium Prof Dr Tariq Afridi said doctors and medical students across Pakistan have complete trust and confidence in the health facility, as majority of the consultants in the country have been trained in various JPMC departments. He claimed that 160 of the 550 psychiatrists working across Pakistan had been trained at the hospital.

“So whenever we announce holding our annual symposium, thousands wish to attend it, but we have to select a few of them due to a lack of space and limited resources. Still, an overwhelmingly large number of medical students and postgraduate trainees will be able attend the 53 pre-scientific workshops and conferences.”

JPMC radiology department head Prof Dr Tariq Mahmood, annual symposium secretary Dr Urooj Lal Rehman and others also spoke on the occasion, while a large number of professors, consultants and students from the health facility as well as other institutions were present as well.