HYDERABAD, Oct 7: Sindh Health Minister Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani on Tuesday depicted a bleak picture of health infrastructure in interior Sindh and said doctors were not ready to work in rural areas.

Speaking at a ceremony held to distribute medical equipment and talking to journalists at the circuit house, the minister said the health system was ineffective and it needed to be rectified.

He said inquiries into corruption in the department were under way and summary for the removal of a senior health official had been sent to the competent authority.

He said that initially six districts in the province had been targeted for improvement. He said there were areas where summaries for new establishments had not been approved yet.

He said buildings constructed in interior Sindh by the health and education departments had been occupied by feudal lords.

He said the middle class had no access to quality education and health facilities in the country and only two per cent people belonging to the elite class could get treatment abroad. The minister said the government had released huge amounts but those remained unutilized because of lack of proper mechanism.

He said there were no medicines, equipment and ambulances in rural areas while the health facilities in the urban areas also remained neglected. He said many basic health units, regional health centres and dispensaries were closed as they needed to be equipped.

“A majority of doctors do not want to serve in rural areas,“ he said. Every doctor wanted to get transferred to Karachi or Hyderabad, he said.

He said the provincial government intended to bring them back by offering them incentives under the Sindh Rural Support Programme.

He said interest-free loans would be provided to the doctors to buy cars and their house rent would be increased.

He said Sindh would follow Punjab where some model BHUs and RHCs were being established. The health system would be improved gradually, he said.

He said Mirpurkhas, Jacobabad, Sukkur, Nawabshah and Badin districts had been made target areas for improvement of BHUs, RHCs and dispensaries.

Mr Qaimkhani said a crackdown would be launched on unregistered blood banks.

He said he would ascertain why 40 per cent share in self-finance schemes was not being paid to teaching hospitals.

Hyderabad District Coordination Officer Mohammad Hussain Syed said a child health institute was being planned for the city in collaboration with the Red Crescent hospital.