KARACHI: Equipment lying idle Fund Shortage hits Civil Hospital
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 7: The virtues of private-public participation in improving the provision of health-care is becoming quite evident in Civil Hospital Karachi, one of the oldest and largest public-sector teaching hospital in Sindh.
Constructed in 1896 as a 200-bed district hospital, the CHK is now a leading teaching hospital, attached to the DMC for undergraduate and post-graduate training and research.
It now has 1760 beds, with 38 different departments dealing with different ailments and diseases.
To provide health facilities at such a large scale, the hospital administration requires constant flow of funds from both public and private sectors. But as the CHK patient population is increasing, the hospital administration is faced with a perpetual problem of fund shortage.
According to the medical superintendent of CHK,
Dr Noshaad A Sheikh, at present the hospital was facing severe financial problems besides severe shortage of medicines.
He said the I.I. Depot had withheld CHK medicines worth Rs 8 million for the last five months.
Similarly, he said many equipment in operation theatres, ICU units and in the laboratory were now lying idle after growing old and obsolete. Since these equipment are no longer repairable, funds are required for the purchase of new equipment.
Though he acknowledged the Sindh government’s support to the hospital, he also said because of rising expenses, the hospital looking towards the private-sector for financial and material support.
He also mentioned the need for devising a master plan for improving and streamlining the functioning of CHK.
The hospital provides medical facilities to people from Karachi, interior of Sindh, Balochistan, patients from upper Punjab and even to patients from Afghanistan and Iran.
More than 60,000 patients are admitted here every year, while those attending its various OPDs number more than 700,000 on an yearly basis. In addition, the CHK also provides free medicines and other diagnostic facilities.
Alongwith the Sindh government, a greater burden of the hospital expenses is shared by a host of philanthropists, multi-national institutions, local companies, NGOs and a number of donor organization.
At present work on renovation and upgradation of burns centre at the Jubilee block is under way. The project will be completed by October 2002.
The new fully-equipped emergency theatre will start functioning by the end of this month. Moreover, the construction work on new orthopaedic operation theatre is also in full swing. The government has provided funds for purchase of theatre equipment.
Recently a paediatric ICU and two renovated paediatric units were also inaugurated at the hospital. A major part of the renovation, upgradation and repair works at the hospital is sponsored by private donations.
The CHK MS also added that greater attention was also being paid for reorganisation of hospital waste management on scientific lines.
