LARKANA, July 26: The federal ministry of labour and power has undertaken construction of a 200-bed hospital to be attached to the Ghulam Mohammed Mahar Medical College, Sukkur, a unit of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SBBMU).

Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Akbar Haidar Soomro told this correspondent that Federal Minister for Labour and Manpower Khursheed Shah had promised funding to the tune of Rs2 billion for the project from the Workers' Welfare Fund. He said that the university management had handed over the possession of two acres of land near Sukkur bypass for the hospital. The land was situated near a plot selected for new building of the college, he said. Construction work on the site had been launched and would take two years to complete, he said.

The college was currently using hospitals in Sukkur and Khairpur districts for academic and training purposes, Dr Soomro said.

Initially, the management of the Workers Welfare Fund would supervise hospital affairs for three years and then a board of governors would take over its administrative control, he said.

When asked about the fate of a long-awaited dental college, a unit of the university, the VC said the admission policy of the college had been finalised in a recent meeting which decided to offer admission to 50 students to the course of bachelor of dental surgery.

He said that the admission process would start in September and classes in October. A decision was about district-wise quota for admission to the college was awaited, he said.

The authorities of the SBBMU and the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences were working on a formula to avoid duplication in admission to the dental colleges of the two universities, he said.

The college would temporarily start functioning in a building adjacent to the Chandka Medical College, he said and added that equipment worth Rs50 million had been purchased and faculty had almost been hired for the college.

The VC said that they had asked the Sindh government to release Rs45 million to complete the construction of the college building and the health secretary had agreed in principle to provide the funds.