KARACHI, Aug 21: The additional facility of 100-bed at Sindh Government Hospital New Karachi, inaugurated in the mid of July, has not started functioning yet even after over a month.

The addition has brought the total bed strength of hospital to 200. New building has indoor blocks with provision of OPDs. It had been planned that all the existing OPDs would be shifted to the newly constructed block except OPDs of physiotherapy, dental, X-ray department and nursing school, which would continue to work in the old block, PPI learnt.

At the time of inauguration, Sindh Planning and Development Minister Shoaib Bukhari had ordered EDO Health to make the new block functional within 10 days, but even possession of the building has not been handed over to the hospital administration yet. Only 50 beds had been provided so far by EDO Health Office, while furniture, fixtures, instruments and major equipment were yet to be provided, a senior doctor of the hospital said.

“We have urged the government to provide around 350 doctors and paramedical staff. Residential facility for about 22 staff members will also be constructed adjacent to the new block, which would take one-and-a-half year to complete,” he added.

The existing facility has all the OPDs and diagnostic facilities, including laboratory, X-ray, ultrasound, beside a school of midwifery and five-bed dialysis unit running with the help of an NGO. At the beginning, it was established as 50-bed health facility, which was later upgraded to 100-bed hospital in 1996, having daily OPD of around 800 patients. Though the number of patients has increased to 1,800 the hospital is still functioning with the same strength of doctors and paramedical.

Due to the shortage of staff, evening and night shifts of dialysis unit could not be run, besides emergency operation theatre could not start functioning and only routine surgeries are being performed at the hospital to cater healthcare needs of millions of people. Last year, the government had approved paramedical staff of 22, but the same is still awaited. —PPI