KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to grant autonomy to 150-year-old mental health facility, Sir Cowasjee Jehangir Institute of Psychiatry (SCJIP), commonly known as Giddu Hospital in Hyderabad, and affiliate it with Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) after upgrading it to a state-of-the-art institution of international standard.

Giddu Hospital was in fact the largest mental health institute of its kind in the country, said Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah while presiding over a meeting at provincial secretariat on Friday.

He directed a committee that prepared initial feasibility report on the institution to finalise the draft of the report within two months so that it could be submitted to provincial cabinet for finalisation and approval. During deliberations on the feasibility report’s draft the meeting made some recommendations and decided to affiliate the institute with LUMHS, Jamshoro.

Mr Shah asked secretary of health to prepare PC-1 for the construction of a state-of-the-art building for the institute that met all international standards and said the government wanted to make the institute autonomous and keep it intact for the next 200 years as it had already existed for over 150 years.

He said the institute was also a national heritage. The government’s top priority must be patients who were suffering from mental diseases, he said.

SCJIP medical superintendent Dr Aijaz Khanzada informed the chief secretary that established in 1865 by Parsi philanthropist Sir Cowasjee Jehangir the institute had been catering to mentally ill persons of not only Sindh but of all provinces of the country.

“The number of OPD patients is increasing every year. According to the institute’s record, a total of 33,568 patients attended the OPD in 2009 while last year the number of patients was recorded at 77,264 that is more than double within a period of nine years,” said the MS.

He complained about encroachments and allotments within the premises of SCJIP premises and the chief secretary assured him that all encroachments would be removed and allotments cancelled.

Among others who attended the meeting were; secretary health Saeed Ahmed Awan, members of the committee LUMHS Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Bikha Ram, Sindh Mental Health Authority chairman Dr Karim Khowaja, Prof Dr Haroon, Dr Jamil Junejo, Prof Dr Moin Ahmed Ansari, LUMHS registrar Dr Murtaza Dayo and officers concerned of the health department.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2019