NICVD chest pain unit promised for Malir

A chest pain unit of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) will be soon set up in District Malir. The decision to this effect was made at a meeting of District Malir’s MPAs and municipal representatives chaired by Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho on Tuesday.

Sindh Minister for Human Settlements and Pakistan Peoples Party Malir President Ghulam Murtaza Baloch was also present at the meeting who said the Sindh government believed in providing health care facilities to the people of Sindh at their doorstep and the decision to open another NICVD unit in Malir was another step in that regard.

Baloch along with MNAs, MPAs and local government representatives of District Malir complained to the health minister about poor performance of a non-governmental organisation (NGO), HANDS, in managing health facilities in the area. Dr Pechuho also expressed concern over the NGO’s performance and directed the health additional secretary to give a show-cause notice to the HANDS chief executive officer.

The meeting discussed health facilities at all the basic health units (BHUs) and rural health centres (RHCs) of District Malir, including five district hospitals of Ibrahim Hyderi, Gadap, Memon Goth, Landhi and Rehri Goth Hospital.

It was decided at the meeting that the district health officer’s office would be shifted from Model Colony to Ghazi Town near a urban health centre to ensure better facilities. The health minister directed the authorities to form an investigation team to inquire into HANDS' performance.

Dr Pechuho also directed the additional secretary health to depute a doctor at the District Council Karachi and each of the District Municipal Corporation (DMC) Malir's dispensaries. She also made a decision to revise PC-1 of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical Complex to ensure its early operation. It was also decided in the meeting that a boundary wall would be established around a 5-acre plot on the National Highway approved for a hospital scheme in Gulshan-e-Hadeed.

The health minister assured the legislators that the NICVD's chest pain unit for District Malir would be established at Manzil pump. Dr Pechuho also promised that the shortage of doctors in hospitals and health centres in Malir will be overcome.

MPAs Mohammad Sajid Jokhio, Raja Abdul Razzaq Baloch, Saleem Baloch and Shaheena Sher Ali attended the meeting, along with District Council Karachi Chairman Salman Abdullah Murad, DMC Malir Chairman Jan Mohammad Baloch and others.