KARACHI, June 28: A group of Ireland-based former postgraduate students of Civil Hospital Karachi has donated modern gadgets and equipment worth around Rs20 million for the Surgical Intensive Care Unit of Anaesthesiology and Pain Management Department, Civil Hospital, Karachi.

A ceremony in this regard was held on Monday at the Civil Hospital, where the Honorary Consul-General of Ireland to Pakistan, Haseeb Ahsan formally handed over the consignment.

Commending the respect enjoyed by Pakistani doctors and anaesthetists, studying as well as serving in Ireland, he appreciated the keenness on their part to pay back what they owned to their parent institutions.

Haseeb Ahsan assured that he would support the transportation and timely delivery of any more consignment meant for essential health care units. Gadgets dispatched from Ireland included several pieces of anaesthesia machine, mini-tracheotomy, suction catheters, ventilators, transport ventilator, neonatal resuscitator, ICU ventilator, cardiac monitors, defibrillator with ECG monitors, surgical diathermy, sigmoidoscopes, light source for endoscopes, anaesthesia circuits, surgical sterilizers, laryngoscopes, centrifuge machines, arterial lines, orthopaedic screws and plates.

The anaesthesiology department's head, Prof Tipu Sultan, mentioned with a tinge of pride that Surgical ICU, Anaesthesiology and Pain Management Department of the CHK was being largely supported by philanthropists. However, he added, this was for the first time that the postgraduates working abroad had collected medical equipment to support their alma-mater.

According to him, the consignment comprising most updated medical equipments and surgical support gadgets would ultimately help the suffering individuals who otherwise may not have availed the facilities, which are only available in private sector hospitals against exorbitant charges.

He expressed gratitude for his former students, including Dr Mirza Nasir Iqbal, Dr Khalid Paracha and Dr Rauf Moosani, who facilitated the entire process. The senior medical practitioner hoped that the tradition would go long way and help promote safe practices in anaesthesia.

Dr Saida Haider of the anaesthesiology department mentioned that the surgical ICU was first of its kind in the public sector being run on donations while the pain management clinic was also first of its kind introduced in any government hospital that too on absolute self-help basis. She said that the department was also one of the major sources of training for local anaesthesiologists. -APP