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Thursday March 28, 2024

Management sees conspiracy to take over children’s hospital

By M. Waqar Bhatti
November 03, 2018

Some elements in the private health sector are hatching conspiracies to defame the private management of Sindh Government Children Hospital (SGCH), North Nazimabad, and exerting pressure on the government to cancel the contract so that they could acquire the most sophisticated children’s hospital in Karachi, officials of the Poverty Eradication Initiative (PEI), an NGO running the hospital, said on Friday.

“A major private sector health organisation is defaming the management of SGCH and PEI as they themselves want to acquire this state-of-the-art hospital by getting our contract cancelled,” GM Operations of the Poverty Eradication Initiative (PEI) Syed Gohar Ali Shah told The News.

Officials at the provincial health department have hinted at taking the hospital back from the administrative control of the PEI on allegations of misappropriation of funds on a report of an auditor, failure to enhance health facilities and services at the hospital and ineffective performance.

But PEI officials said not only the independent but even the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) were satisfied with the performance of the hospital management and they had written letters appreciating the performance of the PEI and the hospital management.

“JICA’s Chief Representative in Pakistan Yasuhiro Tojo has declared the progress report of the hospital management satisfactory in his letter to SGCH Chief Executive Dr Fatima Mohabat Ali and also sent a copy of this letter to the Sindh health secretary and other officials,” Gohar Shah claimed and added that JICA officials also expressed satisfaction over the achievement of operational and effective indicators as per the MoU signed between JICA, PEI, the government and the Economic Affairs Division.

He said that even Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah, Additional Health Secretary Usman Chachar and Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho were satisfied with the performance of the hospital management and had assured them of resolving the issue of funding in coming days.

“When we explained the actual situation and services we were providing to suffering humanity, to the children suffering from lethal diseases and provision of quality healthcare free of charge, Sindh health department officials were quite surprised and they have assured us of resumption of funding to the hospital in the days to come,” said Gohar Ali Shah.