KARACHI, June 2: The stone-laying ceremony of an operation theatre complex, having 16 well-equipped operation theatres, was performed on Monday on the premises of Civil Hospital Karachi by the adviser to the chief minister on health. The complex is slated to be built at a cost of Rs50 million in the next few years.

Last year about 28,000 surgical operations were undertaken at the Civil Hospital Karachi, according to a presentation made just after the stone-laying ceremony. Twenty-nine per cent of the people who needed operations could not be operated upon due to a lack of capacity.

The new complex will allow, first, more operations to be performed at the hospital and, second, will help the doctors control complications like infections, according to the graduates of Dow Medical College who initially proposed the construction of the complex and who are raising the money needed.

The main force behind the ambitious project, Dr Shafiqur Rehman, told the audience that surgical operations were undertaken regularly at 20 units of the CHK. The facilities existing in the hospital, he said, were dismal.

Showing slides, he drove home his point. Dr Shafiqur Rehman praised the efforts of the 1976 and 1977 batches of Dow Medical College and said his batch was just following in the footsteps of the seniors.

He said two floors would be added to the building housing the surgical I and II wards where 16 operation theatres would be located. The air coming in and out of each theatre will be handled separately using state-of-the-art equipment.

“This way we will make sure that the diseases and infections of one theatre will not be carried to the other ones.”

Prof Noshad A. Shaikh, medical superintendent of the CHK, on the occasion said several philanthropists and 10 NGOs were busy in efforts to improve the situation obtaining in his hospital. “The answer to the greatest of problems lies in becoming a part of the solution.”

The medical superintendent said the OT complex project was the 24th that had been unveiled under the Public Private Partnership programme for which the Civil Hospital Karachi had been declared a model by the authorities.

Prof Illahi Bakhsh Soomro, principal of the Dow Medical College, pointed out that Dr Ishratul Ibad was an alumnus of his college and should have spared some time to attend the ceremony held at his alma mater. (The governor, though invited, did not attend the event as he had flown to Islamabad.)

Prof Soomro said if the existing operation theatres presented a dismal picture, successive medical superintendents should be held responsible. It was true that several projects had been launched recently under the Public Private Partnership programme but a lot still needed to be done.

The Health Secretary, Ashiq H. Memon, said the 24 projects undertaken at the Civil Hospital Karachi showed that the Public Private Partnership programme could deliver the goods. He urged the other batches of Dow Medical College to come forward and launch new projects.

The government will extend all possible support in this regard, he announced.

Noman Saigal — the CM’s adviser on matters of health — said the government would extend support to the project but only on “genuine grounds”. He called upon those present to join hands in completing the project before the scheduled time.

He claimed that a communication gap separated the doctors and professors from the health planners and administrators. He urged the doctors to approach him directly whenever they needed to or felt like.

He recounted a couple of incidents in which his orders were not carried out. Rather, the professors had tabled some resolutions against his actions which were termed “interference” in the academic and administrative affairs of Dow Medical College and Civil Hospital, Karachi.

Both he and the health secretary would be visiting the site from time to time to monitor the pace of the work there, declared Mr Saigal.