KARACHI, Dec 5: City Nazim Mustafa Kamal has constituted a four-member committee to revamp and upgrade the services of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital within three months. He stated this while addressing a press conference after taking an extensive round of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for about three hours on Monday.

Introducing the committee members Dr Waqar Kazmi, Dr Khawar Mehdi, Dr Nasir Javed and Mr Haseeb Khan, the nazim said that he was delegating all his powers to the committee to enable it to function smoothly. Even the Medical Superintendent of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital would report to the “Abbasi Rehabilitation Committee”, he pointed out.

Entrusting his full confidence in the committee, the nazim said that he would go by each and every decision of the committee and would only sign the proposals of the committee for implementation. He said that after three months, the hospital would be totally revamped. Both the outer and the inner condition of the hospital would be radically improved and this would be implemented at every cost, the nazim asserted.

As part of the improvement plan, Mustafa Kamal said that an IT-based hospital management system would also be introduced in the hospital which would keep track and record of all the medicines, financial and managerial matters. Matters such as promotions, demotions of the staff and other organizational issues would be monitored and carried out thorough the IT system, he said.

Referring to prevailing conditions of the hospital, he said that hospital had a capacity of 850 beds, but around 60 per cent beds were lying vacant. Out of a sanctioned budget of Rs75 million, only Rs20 million was utilized while remaining budget lapsed, he added.

He said that there was a time when despite repeated efforts, people could not avail the treatment from the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital due to overwhelming rush of patients and good repute. But over the years, the hospital became victim to neglect and apathy of the authorities concerned, the nazim said.

To a query made by Dawn regarding the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases, the nazim said that he was closely following the issue and very soon its emergency would start functioning.

Earlier, visiting different departments of the hospital, Mustafa Kamal expressed extreme dissatisfaction over the prevailing conditions. He learnt that the telephone exchange of the hospital was out of function for the last six months. Similarly, the X-ray machine was also out of order. In the Coronary Care Unit, he was informed that not a single machine was in order and nor the air conditioners were in working condition.

However, while visiting the Medical Ward III, the nazim praised the efforts of Dr Salimullah Khan, who was engaged in the reconstruction of the ward through raising donations.