KARACHI, May 19: Unclean bedspreads. Absent doctors. Broken down ambulance. This is what the adviser to the chief minister on health found, or not found, during his surprise inspection of the Sindh Government Hospital at Korangi-5 on Monday.

The situation obtaining at the hospital was so bad that his parting statement to its medical superintendent, Dr Nizam-ud-din Memon, was: “This is the worst hospital I have seen.”

According to the officer coordinating Noman Saigal’s activities, patients were being treated shabbily. And no ambulance was available to take home the body of a woman who had died in the hospital.

There was even a dispute regarding the payment of fee. Some people told the CM’s adviser that they had been charged Rs35 each while others said Rs25 had been charged from them.

Mr Saigal’s aide said an inquiry had been launched to determine why the hospital was being neglected. The hospital’s MS had been given a fortnight to pull up his socks, he added.

Answering a question put by Dawn, he said the adviser to the CM had all the powers of a minister. “It has been especially mentioned in the notification that Mr Saigal will have all the powers that are enjoyed by a provincial minister. His status is different from other advisers in this regard.”

Asked if visits like Monday’s could bring a betterment in the health care provided to people by the state-owned hospitals, the aide said: “We are of the opinion that these visits are very important. Through these visits not only do we get first hand information about the various hospitals, these visits also keep the doctors and paramedical staff on their toes all the time,” he said.

Answering another question, he said Mr Saigal’s aim was to make the smaller hospitals fully functional and viable within a short period of time.

This is one way to lessen the burden on the major hospitals of the city, namely Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Civil Hospital Karachi and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Mr Saigal’s aide claimed that the ministers who on Monday inspected hospitals in Patel Para and Orangi areas were not interfering in Mr Saigal’s work. “You see it’s like one reporter going to a site and upon his return writing or talking to another reporter about a certain issue. This is not interfering. This is helping or coordinating.”