KARACHI, June 23: Construction work for the renovation and upgrade of the existing Sindh Government Children Hospital (SGCH) in North Karachi as a specialised paediatric medical treatment centre with about 250 beds is likely to begin in the first quarter of the new financial year, it emerged on Saturday.

According to sources in the provincial health department, the renovation and upgrade of the North Karachi children hospital from a primary medical service provider to secondary or tertiary care centre had been envisaged under the Child Health Institute project, which would be funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Sindh government.

The Sindh government had allocated Rs50 million under its annual development programme for 2012-13. The government would bear the cost of not only the improvement of the existing building infrastructure but also ensure appointments of over 200 doctors, technical and paramedical and nursing staffs, the sources said, adding that a total share of Rs130 million had been estimated by the Sindh government till June 2015.

They said that the government had requested JICA for establishment of child health institutes at Sukkur, Larkana and Karachi, but after various studies it was decided that the SGCH Karachi had the highest priority and it was appropriate to improve the facilities and equipment of the hospital.

JICA through grant-in-aid would bear the cost of construction of a new two-storey building and provision of new equipment and medical facilities, said another source and added that the construction period for the project had been estimated at about 24 months, including the preparation of detail design and tendering process.

In the presence of the then federal government run National Institute of Child Health (NICH), the SGCH North Karachi was made functional as an outpatient unit in 2003. Today, the hospital with over 50 doctors and 50 beds for in-house patients catered to the needs of 800-1,000 under-12 years through its various OPDs on a daily basis.

The hospital recorded 80 per cent bed occupancies, while some surgeries were also undertaken, said a senior official of the hospital.

It was further said that the SGCH could provide only limited or primary medical care due to a lack of equipment and patients who required specialized paediatrics medical services or advanced surgeries were referred to the NICH. The SGCH was established on an 18-acre piece of land near Nagan Chowrangi in North Karachi.

SGCH Medical Superintendent Dr Asif Zaman said that the expansion and upgrade project included improvement of the OPD and setting up of medical wards, emergencies, standard pharmacy, image diagnosis, laboratories, intensive care unit, physiotherapy and rehabilitation units, surgery and medical education facilities.

The JICA had confirmed the validity and extension of facilities and procurement of equipment for the purpose of adding the secondary medical function to the SGCH to the authorities concerned, Dr Zaman said, adding that Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmad would be performing the groundbreaking of the project in a month or so.

Once functional, the child health institute would be able to admit 250 patients at a time, with facilities like operation theatres, medical and surgical ICUs, incubators, ventilator unit, MRI, blood transfusion service for high-risk neonates, neonatal care units, he said, adding that about 220 posts of doctors and other staffs had been proposed, in addition to the existing number of doctors and relevant staffs, to the government.