KARACHI, Dec 30: The Sindh Assembly was informed on Friday that the government would enact legislation for taking action against quakes who were responsible for endangering lives of many people.

This was stated by the provincial health minister Shabbir Ahmad Qaimkhani during question hour.

Replying to a question, the minister said that without eliminating the culture of “sifarish”, condition of government hospitals cannot be changed. Because of this, he said that there was concentration of doctors in Karachi and Hyderabad, but hospitals in district headquarters and other rural areas were significantly deficient.

He said in order to overcome this problem, people with domiciles from interior of Sindh were being posted.

He said that 250 doctors under the school health scheme had been posted in the interior. But, he said, there was great resistance against postings in the interior.

He told a questioner that many basic health units and rural health projects were without doctors, and, therefore, in the next budget provisions would be made for overcoming the shortfall. District health officials have been asked to provide details, he said.

The minister said recently 130 doctors were promoted from grade 18 to 19 and 40 were promoted to grade-20 from grade-19. Replying to another question, he said that 121 ambulances had been procured for district hospitals, while a summary had been prepared for purchasing surgical and other equipment.

He promised to provide district hospitals with necessary machines within a month. He said bio-medical engineers would be kept on contract for looking after equipment.

He told a questioner that during the last five years seven deaths were reported from Larkana civil hospital. These were connected with operations for delivery cases.

govt hospitals: Sindh Assembly on Friday, was informed that there were 11 government hospitals in the city where indoor facilities are available, adds APP.

In a written reply to a question, Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani said there were 3,537 beds available for indoor patients in these hospitals. These hospitals included the Civil Hospital, Services Hospital, Lyari General Hospital, Police Hospital and Sindh Government Hospitals at Korangi, Saudabad, Liaquatabad, Orangi Town, Ibrahim Hydari, New Karachi and Qater Hospital Orangi.