KARACHI, May 15: Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) needs a new incinerator for the safe and scientific disposal of medical waste it generates every day, as the existing one involves frequent repairing and high maintenance costs, in addition to falling effectiveness.
This was observed at a meeting of the Board of Governors (BoG) of the CHK and Lyari General Hospital (LGH) on Tuesday. Chairman BoG, Abu Shamim M. Arif, presided over the meeting, which, among others, was also attended by newly posted Secretary of the Provincial Health Department, Mumtaz-ur-Rahman.
The meeting was informed that the CHK incinerator, which was commissioned 10-12 years back, had almost completed its life and as such, there was a need to purchase another incinerator of international standards in the shortest possible time. At present the hospital charges one rupee per day from every out patient as hospital waste management fee.
Since the hospital has no adequate fund for the purpose, the Sindh health department was requested to arrange for a special and bulk provision of funds on a priority basis for the purchase of a new incinerator, it was further said.A member privy to the meeting said that the hospital management has been assured of all possible support on behalf of the health department. The health secretary has also emphasised on proper disposal of hospital waste by the private as well as public sector hospitals.
The CHK has over 45 departments and patients’ wards, with a capacity for about 1,900 in-house patients. In addition to patients, doctors and nurses, about 4,000 people attend to patients or visit as out patients every day, who needed a safe and infection-free atmosphere, a participant of the meeting told Dawn.
QUALITY OF MEDICINE: The secretary also emphasised on the quality of medicine purchased by the CHK and directed that batch-wise sampling and testing of medicines should be undertaken by involving provincial and federal government laboratories. At present, a random sampling and testing of medicines purchased for the hospital is done either by the provincial or federal lab, said a source privy to the meeting.
PURCHASES: In other business, the BoG approved the working paper of the LGH for the re-appropriation of Rs2.4 million for purchase of a telephone exchange, and the amount of Rs0.8 million for the repairs or service of equipment related to the operation theatre.
In the case of the LGH it was also decided to grant permission to it for the purchase of equipment and furniture worth Rs21 million. The BoG also approved the decision for purchase of quality medicine on the recommendations of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) professors.
OT COMPLEX: The meeting was also informed that a soft opening of the CHK OT Complex, comprising 14 operation theatres, will be performed on May 22, while the complex will be operational with surgeries on long awaited cases of cleft lip and cleft palate performed by a team of doctors from the plastic surgery department of the CHK and DUHS.
Among others, the Vice-Chancellor of DUHS, Prof Masood Hameed Khan, Medical Superintendent of the CHK, Dr Kaleem Butt, MS of LGH, Dr Mukhtar Khawaja and Abdul Sami Khan also attended the meeting.
