KARACHI, Oct 22: Brig (r) Mazharul Haq, representing a group of Pakistanis living in the United Arab Emirates, has told Governor Ishratul Ibad that the expatriates planned to set up a 200-bed trauma centre with two satellite units in Karachi.
He briefed the governor about the project in a meeting held on Saturday at the Governor’s House. City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal, Adviser to the CM on Local Government Waseem Akhtar, Health Secretary Dr Naushad Shaikh, Local Government Secretary Ishaq Lashari, DCO Fazalur Rehman, EDO Master Plan Atiq Baig, Principal Secretary to the Governor Mohammad Salim Khan and Vice-Chancellor of the Dow University of Health Sciences Prof Masood Hamid were present at the meeting.
Brig Mazhar said that his group was keen to set up the trauma centre in a public-private partnership venture. A seed money of $10 million was being invested in the project, he added.
He stated that the trauma centre could be made functional within 12-18 months if the government provided a piece of land measuring 100 acres for the project.
The project would be a charitable trust to be run by local and overseas Pakistanis with representation from the government side. It would have a state- of-the-art treatment facility to be provided to patients free of cost.
The governor directed the officials concerned to show two sites to the prospective investors for selecting one of them for the project. He also asked the group to come out with a financial model which Brig Mazhar agreed to present soon.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT: Later, talking to APP, the governor said that the Sindh government was planning establishment of a trauma centre in each of the 23 districts of the province.
He said that the provincial government desired that every district of Sindh had such a facility for the patients requiring immediate surgical and other treatment for orthopaedic or burn injuries, as well as shock.
“At the moment there is no such organized facility either in the public or, for that matter, private sector,” he observed.
Dr Ibad said that the UAE group of Pakistanis willing to set up a trauma centre in Karachi also had also offered establishment of two satellite trauma centres in different localities of Karachi.
He noted that people would be able to receive free treatment facility at the trauma centre. He said that the prospective investors’ group comprised doctors, engineers and businessmen.
The governor said that the trauma centres in all provincial district would eventually become a part of the disaster management plan, work on which was under way. The plan, he pointed out, had already started receiving input from the seats of higher learning, such as NED University, Karachi University, Sir Syed University, etc.
Dr Ibad aLso observed that the research work carried out in this regard was being consolidated to make an infrastructure for the disaster management plan available and once inducted, the facility would greatly help in responding swiftly to emergencies and disasters.
The existing infrastructure would also be reinforced accordingly and the required level of awareness in general public would be created.—APP
