KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has approved the progress, design, scope and financial framework of a 600-bed hospital in Larkana, describing it as a major healthcare project for upper Sindh.

The facility is expected to be completed within two years. Its groundbreaking ceremony is planned for March 2026, with the first tower scheduled for completion within one year and the second tower in the following year.

The CM issued directives in this regard to the planning & development (P&D) and health departments while chairing a meeting attended by Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Planning & Development Chairman Najam Shah, Finance Secretary Fayaz Jatoi, Secretary to the CM Raheem Shaikh, Health Secretary Rehan Baloch, Dr Saeed Qureshi and Hospital Project Director Kashif Khuhro while the Larkana commissioner participated via video link.

He said the hospital project had been taken up on the instructions of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. In line with the chairman’s vision, the facility will provide quality healthcare to the people of upper Sindh.

Project will take two years to complete, Murad told

Briefing the meeting, officials informed the CM that the Larkana hospital would be a six-storey facility with a basement, to be constructed in two phases. It would have a total capacity of 596 beds and would function as a 600-bed tertiary-care hospital.

The hospital plan, as approved by the chief minister, will be completed in two phases. Phase I of the project includes a six-floor tower with a basement and will provide 288 nursing-care beds, 92 emergency beds and 48 intensive-care beds. Phase II will add 144 nursing-care beds and 24 ICU beds, bringing the total capacity to 432 nursing-care beds, 92 ER beds and 72 ICU beds in the second tower.

The CM said the hospital would feature modern emergency services, outpatient departments, radiology and dialysis units, laboratories, a blood bank, endoscopy facility, day-surgery units, eight operating theatres, pre-and post-operative wards, recovery areas, and specialised medical and surgical ICUs. Rehabilitation services, administrative offices, and attendants’ waiting areas are also included in the design.

The basement will house essential support facilities, including kitchen and staff dining areas, central sterile supply department, laundry, mortuary, medical gas plant, waste-management system, storage areas and loading-unloading docks.

On the ground floor, major components will include emergency triage, radiology facility, outpatient departments (medical and surgical), pharmacy, dialysis unit, ER observation wards for man and woman patients, rehabilitation and administration.

The CM was briefed that the total estimated cost of civil works stands at approximately Rs3.108 billion. This includes the main hospital building, additional civil items, non-scheduled works and external development.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2025