LARKANA: Larkana Commissioner Ghanwar Leghari, during his recent visit to the congenital club foot deformity correction centre at the city block of the Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH), appreciated Prof Dr Zameer Soomro’s efforts in providing best possible treatment to children with the disease.

“This is a huge task which needs to be expanded to cover a large number of patients coming to the centre from far flung areas of Sindh, Balochistan and southern Punjab, besides Larkana district,” the commissioner said.

Mr Leghari went round units of the hospital and held a meeting with medical superintendent Dr Gulzar Tunio. He told Dr Tunio that he had discussed healthcare issues of Larkana division with the chief secretary, who agreed in principle to lend maximum possible support to CMCH initiatives.

The commissioner advised Dr Tunio to focus on compiling and updating the data of all disciplines at the hospital “as figures always speak”.

It was learnt that the commissioner had asked the consultants serving at the CMC Children Hospital, as well as the CMCH management, to prepare long-term plans in health and medical education sectors for upgrading of the available services. He held out the assurance that required softwares would be made available to this over 1,500-bed healthcare facility for compiling of data of all departments.

During the visit, Prof Dr Zameer Soomro, the orthopedic surgeon who has been running this small unit since 2015, briefed the commissioner about its operation. He said philanthropists should be involved for funding on a permanent basis while the health department would also be approached to promote this noble cause.

Prof Soomro, who has acquired this skill from US and heads the CMCH department of orthopaedic unit-II, called for recruitment of adequate skilled staff for the unit.

He said that doctors and other staff were deputed at the unit every week to attend 50 to 70 patients coming from upper Sindh, lower Punjab and parts of Balochistan.

“We have registered a gradual rise in the number of patients with congenital club foot deformity at the unit … in 2015, 109 cases were reported and most of them came from villages and remote areas,” said Prof Soomro.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2022