KARACHI: In an attempt to appease the critics of robotic surgery, interim Sindh Chief Minister Maqbool Baqar on Tuesday held a meeting with senior doctors and healthcare professionals belonging to different medical bodies to take them on board over what many believed the controversial purchase of the costly systems.

Representatives of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Young Doctors Association (YDA), Peoples Doctors Forum (PDF), Society of Surgeons and College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan attended the meeting.

Sources said that the meeting, specifically called over the ongoing controversy regarding the caretaker Health Minister Dr Saad Khalid Niaz’s decision to cancel a tender meant for importing four multibillion-rupee robotic systems, saw long arguments from both sides and remained inconclusive.

They said that the chief minister, Health Secretary Dr Mansoor Abbas Rizvi and caretaker Law Minister Umer Soomro told the attendees that the budget for the systems’ purchase was allocated by the previous government of the Pakistan Peoples Party and that the caretaker set-up was bound to implement its decision.

A participant says meeting ended without consensus

In this respect, the officials referred to the laws and ruling of the Election Commission of Pakistan and the Supreme Court.

“No consensus could develop during the meeting. It’s unfortunate that the meeting’s agenda wasn’t the problems being faced by doctors” said Dr Zaman Baloch of the PMA-Sindh.

He added that the association believed that the government needed to set its priorities right and improve primary healthcare facilities first.

Last month, the caretaker health minister had cancelled a tender on the grounds that the robot-assisted procedures were too costly and should not be used for routine surgeries.

The systems were to be bought for the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Gambat Hospital and Liaquat University of Medical Sciences Hospital.

Meanwhile, the chief minister inaugurated a skill lab for pediatric and neonatal care technician course at the College of Nursing located in the area of Koohi goth, Malir.

In his address, the chief minister expressed his concern over the country’s worrisome child mortality rate— the highest in the world— while calling for greater efforts to improve the situation. He said that the establishment of the College of Nursing and the introduction of a skill lab for pediatric and neonatal care technician course was a step forward to overcoming the shortfall.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2023