LARKANA, Feb 8: Larkana district government is ready to hand over the non-functional and closed health centres to NGOs if they want to run them.

The district Nazim Khursheed Junejo made this offer to NGOs in a function held under the auspices of Pakistan Voluntary Health and Nutrition Association (PVHNA) here on Friday.

He expressed concern over the poor performance of NGOs in Sindh and quoting a recent meeting with donor agencies in Islamabad he pointed out that 102 NGOs of the province regularly received funds from international donor agencies.

He said that 3.5 per cent annual growth rate in Larkana’s population was alarming and they would have to address this problem seriously.

Dr Yasmeen Sabeeh, executive director of PVHNA, talked about the activities and achievements of her organization and its partner agencies for extending a variety of services to curb the growth rate.

She said that Pakistan legged far behind most developing countries in women’s health and gender equality.

She pointed out that among every 38 child delivering women one died while mortality rate of girls between the age of one and four years was 66 per cent higher than boys of same age group.

She added that Pakistan was likely to become the third most populous country by 2050 if the annual population growth rate continued at 2.4 per cent.

Later Mr Junejo and Dr Sabeeh distributed certificates and awards among the lady field health workers.