642 LHWs, 103 midwives being trained for safe deliveries in Thar: Dahar

Karachi 

Sindh Minister for Health Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar has said that the Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences will be made an institution of international standard with the coordination of USAID and all technical, medical and security staff will be hired from open market to make it a success. 

He was talking to Graig G Buck, deputy mission director of Sindh and Balochistan, at the Sindh Assembly office of the minister on Friday. 

Health Secretary Dr Saeed Ahmed Mangnejo, Dr Dabeer Ahmed and Dr. Zulfiqar also attended the meeting.

He said: “All stakeholders will be taken on board to make JIMS functional because this institution will not only cater to the needs of interior Sindh but it will also provide treatment facilities to the patients of Balochistan.”

Later, talking to the media, Dahar said that seven rural health centres, eight basic health centres and 202 dispensaries were working in Thar and in collaboration with HANDS, Thar Deep and other NGOs, 404 ambulances providing health facilities to the doorstep in remote areas. Replying to question, he said that 642 LHWs and 103 midwives were being given basic training in Thar to make safe deliveries and to provide initial health care to the mothers and newly born children. 

He said that in the first phase 165 midwives had been trained while in the second phase through short training courses many hundreds educated girls would be given training in this regard. “We are focusing on controlling deaths of ailing mothers and their babies and ensuring maximum possible health care facilities for expectant mothers to avoid premature births,” he concluded.