KARACHI, Jan 3: Caretaker Minister for Health, Sindh, Fouzia Lari has said that four teaching hospitals will start extending full-fledged CT scan and MRI facilities to their patients soon.

Talking to Dawn, the minister said that funds for the advanced medical equipment required for these facilities had been made available to the authorities concerned but the same remained unutilised for about two years.

“I have now ordered floating of tender for the procurement of the CT and MRI facilities on a priority basis,” she said, and hoped that the process would be completed in a month or so. In addition to these facilities, she added, approval would be given for the procurement of certain other equipment essentially required to be available at a number of hospitals in the province.

The CT scan and MRI equipment will be installed at the Civil Hospital, Karachi, Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana, People’s Medical College, Nawabshah, and the Liaquat University of Medical Science Hospital, Jamshoro. The cost of the equipment, around Rs450 million, will be borne equally by the federal and Sindh governments.

Availability of these facilities would surely provide great relief to the population of the interior of Sindh as a large number of patients and their relatives had to travel to Karachi for the purpose and bear the heavy expenses involved.

Taking note of a shortage of nursing staff at various hospitals, Ms Lari said she had asked the director of Nursing Board to do the needful in making sure the availability of an adequate strength of trained nurses. She said the director had also been told to take steps for increasing the seats from 50 to 70 under the self-financing scheme at every government hospital in Karachi.