THATTA: The management of the Makli Civil Hospital was formally handed over to a non-governmental organisation, the Medical Emergency Resilience Foundation (MERF), under the public-private partnership arrangement at a ceremony held here on Tuesday. Sindh Minister for Health Dr Sikandar Mandhro, Health Secretary Dr Fazlullah Pechuho, MERF chief executive officer Syed Miran Shah and others spoke at the ceremony attended by political and social activists, besides elite of the area.

In his speech, Dr Mandhro said the provincial government would induct around 6,000 fresh doctors soon after they qualified the Sindh Public Service Commission exam. This, he said, would help overcome a shortage of doctors at government health facilities in the province.

The minister noted that the management of 164 government hospitals had so far been handed over to the private sector to improve their services to the general public. They included 13 hospitals of Thatta and Sujawal districts, he added.

He held out the assurance that not a single doctor, paramedic or other employee of these government health facilities would be retrenched on account of the partnership arrangement.

Health Secretary Dr Pechuho told the audience that 50 per cent of the construction work of the Thatta Civil Hospital’s emergency block had already been completed and the remaining work would be completed very soon.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2017