KARACHI: Sending the medical superintendent (MS) on forced leave, City Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab has set up a five-member committee to probe into the affairs of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation-run Spencer Eye Hospital.

The committee shall submit a report within a week regarding the hospital.

On public complaints, the mayor took the action during a surprise visit to the hospital on Tuesday after checking the attendance of the doctors and staff and inspecting the outpatient department register and other documents.

Barrister Wahab inspected the operation theatre and doctors’ rooms besides visiting the residence of the staff within the hospital premises.

Taking notice of the poor performance of the Spencer Eye Hospital management and staff, he said it was a cause of concern that one of the oldest and most important hospitals of Karachi, established on an area of more than one acre, was not operational.

A complete investigation would be conducted and the reasons to be examined as to why satisfactory treatment facilities were not available there to eye patients. He said, for that purpose a five-member committee, consisting of City Council members had been established with four members from the PPP and one from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

The committee would submit its report within a week after evaluating the performance of the hospital from all aspects and till then the current MS of the hospital would be on forced leave. He expressed anger over the poor sanitation conditions and the lack of security arrangements at the eye health facility.

The mayor said that all the wards of Spencer Eye Hospital should be fully functional; it was important to utilise the facilities available in the hospital for eye operations because a large number of people belonging to the poor and middle classes visited the hospital for the treatment of eye diseases.

In the past, Spencer Eye Hospital was called the best eye hospital in Asia.

He said it was the responsibility of the administration to fulfil its duties and to inform about all the needs of the hospital so that they could be fulfilled and provide the citizens with the best facilities in terms of eye health.

The mayor said that monitoring committees, consisting of public representatives, would also be formed to review the performance of other hospitals managed by the KMC so that those facilities could be improved according to the reports and suggestions presented by the respective UC chairmen.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2023