Sindh aims to continue managing three main public hospitals of Karachi

Karachi: The Sindh government has asked the federal authorities to withdraw their decision to manage three main public sector hospitals of Karachi and instead let it continue running the health care facilities.

Speaking at a press conference, Sindh Law and Environment Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab, who also acts as the spokesman for Sindh government, said that the federal government didn’t have the financial capacity to manage three large public sector hospitals of Karachi.

The hospitals are: Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), and National Institute of Child Health in Karachi. The federal government has to assume control of these three hospitals in pursuance of the decision of the apex judiciary.

Recently, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah informed audience of a ceremony that the NIVCD in Karachi performed the maximum number of primary angioplasties under one roof anywhere in the world as all these surgeries are performed free of charge. Besides Karachi, NICVD has satellite centres in different cities of Sindh.

Expensive health treatment

Barrister Wahab mentioned that in the current financial year alone, the provincial government had spent Rs 12 billion to run the three hospitals as the federal government didn’t have the resources to spend as much to manage these health care facilities.

He said the Sindh government had given Rs 3.42 billion alone to the JPMC in the current financial year while the NICVD was given Rs 3.8 billion.

He said the most expensive health treatment services were provided by the three hospitals free of charge since years.

Sindh Law Adviser emphasised that the provincial government spent its own budget to serve the federation of Pakistan in the best possible manner as the patients from all over the country comes to the three hospitals to get free health care services.