KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday directed the health department to make functional the closed Children Hospital North Karachi within 15 days. He said the Sindh government was ready to pay its liabilities.

Presiding over a meeting of the Public Private Partnership Policy Board here, he said: “People of North Karachi cannot be denied the services of their health facility for the issues between the private partner and the government.”

Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho informed the chief minister that the health department had executed a management contract with the Poverty Eradication Initiative (PEI) in Sept 2016 for a period of 10 years, but the private partner closed the hospital in December 2021.

Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput said he had worked out Rs616 million liabilities on the issue, and added that Rs425m was required to make the hospital operational.

CM Shah said that he was ready to release the funds immediately, but the hospital must be made functional within the next 15 days.

He directed the health department to ensure the audit of the hospital right from its start in 2016. The policy board approved the proposal.

Desalination plants

The board was informed that in order to meet water requirements, the government has decided to install two desalination plants at Ibrahim Hyderi and Native Jetty or somewhere near Keamari.

The meeting was told that each plant might cost over Rs1 billion. The CM directed the local government minister to visit the Keamari area and select the site for the plant, and also visit the KANUPP plant.

He directed the authorities to launch pre-qualifications documents for the desalination plants project under public-private partnership mode. He added that the project may be taken up on provincial government expenses.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2022