Sindh okays Rs30m to set up COVID-19 facility at PAF Museum

The Sindh Coronavirus Emergency Fund Committee has sanctioned Rs30 million for setting up a 300-bed field hospital for COVID-19 patients at the PAF Museum in Karachi.

Headed by Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, the committee in its 10th meeting on Thursday also approved Rs720 million out of the emergency fund to buy laboratory apparatus, personal protection kits, machinery and other required medical equipment.

Moreover, the meeting okayed Rs500 million out of the Sindh Health Department’s budget to upgrade various public hospitals across the province. Briefing the committee, the finance secretary provided details of the funds’ collection.

He said that Rs3.5 billion has so far been collected for the coronavirus emergency fund, while the number of private donors, he added, is 1,000.

He told the meeting that overseas Pakistanis have donated Rs14.6 million through i-Care (Pakistan’s donor-advised fund) and the names of all the donors are displayed on the website of the Sindh Finance Department.

The health secretary informed the committee that the delivery of medical equipment, including personal protection kits ordered through the Sindh Coronavirus Emergency Fund, has started.

The meeting also decided to write to the Federal Bureau of Revenue to exempt the coronavirus emergency fund from sales tax, income tax and withholding tax.