KARACHI, Oct 9: The Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) will seek financial support of philanthropists for hiring nurses to meet the shortage of staff at the hospital.

This was stated by the Medical Superintendent of CHK, Dr Ali Raza, while speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the computerized library at the Paediatrics Ward Unit-III of the hospital on Thursday.

The MS appreciated the efforts made by doctors for the ailing patients despite paucity of funds and manpower. He stressed that the hospital, catering to the medical needs of the poor, should not only be equipped with medicines and related support, but also with well-trained staff.

According to him, support extended by the private institutions and philanthropists for the uplift of the hospital could also be channelized to fill the vacuum.

Earlier, Prof Iqbal Memon informed the MS about the resources generated by the non-governmental organization, Save the Children, and other individuals for completion of ambitious projects like endoscopy unit, neo-natal unit, ICU and the computerized library at the Paediatrics Ward Unit-III of the CHK.

Prof Iqbal said that the library had been established with internet facilities so that doctors and post-graduate internees could have accessibility to a wide range of well-reputed medical journals, besides programmes frequently launched in form of telephonic conferences and debates. This would be a part of the continuous education programme for doctors enabling them to improve their professional skills in the larger interest of the patients, he added.

He said that medical care was being provided to hundreds of child patients at the ward every week. However, he said that 70 per cent of the slots for nurses, paramedics and non-medical staffers was vacant at the paediatrics unit. He said that there was no shortage of the qualified paediatricians at the unit, but the demand for sub-specialists in the field of paediatrics was largely felt mainly due to the absence of necessary infrastructure.—APP