KARACHI, Dec 31: The First Lady, Begum Sehba Musharraf, has observed that women in South Asia, including Pakistan, bear the greatest burden of deprivation.

She was speaking at a ceremony, held at the Civil Hospital here on Tuesday, on the occasion of the opening of a new Department of Emergency Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Begum Sehba inaugurated the department which has been established by the 1977 batch of Dow Medical College ‘Dowites 77’ under a public-private partnership project.

“Only one-fifth of mothers in Pakistan get assistance of some skilled professional at the time of delivery. An expectant woman in Pakistan is 40 times more likely to die from pregnancy and delivery complications than a women in developed world,” she observed.

She said that health and education for women was lagging much not for want of policy, but because of the social environment which was not conducive to equity for women in these sectors.

She said the government was showing a level of determination and leadership in health and education for women and that people were responding.

About medical facilities in Karachi, the First Lady said that population in this metropolis had increased manifold, rising from 200,000 in 1898 to 13 million at present, but the bed strength, medical technology and professional capacity had not increased proportionately.

This could be blamed on lack of resources and planning and on the fact that the population growth in Karachi appeared colossal, she said adding that to keep up with this pace was simply beyond the means of the public sector, she observed.

Begum Sehba expressed the hope that public-private partnership initiative, taken by the Civil Hospital administration, would go a long way in meeting the health demands of the city and providing modern technology and medical expertise to the poor and the deserving class which could not afford it otherwise.

She appreciating the efforts of Dowites 77 in this regard as a commendable job.

Congratulating the Dowites 77 on their silver jubilee reunion, she said that the idea of the old students getting back to their alma mater and developing something tangible for the society was great.

She also lauded the efforts of the 76 batch in establishing an emergency operation theatre at the Civil Hospital.

Earlier, the Secretary Health, Amir Ali Burq, underlined the need for a better doctor-patient relationship for an early recovery of patients.

He pointed out that several measures had been taken to improve healthcare facilities in the country during the last three years but, he added, a lot more had to be done in this regard.

In his speech, the Medical Superintendent of Civil Hospital, Prof Naushad Shaikh, said that it was a state-of-the-art project in the country which would provide modern healthcare facilities of safe and productive pregnancy.

The Dean of Medicine, Prof Tipu Sultan, Dr Shahid Kamal and Dr Shah also spoke on the occasion.—APP