KARACHI, Nov 21: The Urban Health Centre in Chanesar Goth has been in a state of limbo for the past five years, Dawn learnt here on Wednesday.

An area resident said the Urban Health Centre had been supposed to house a maternity home under the Peoples’ Programme, initiated by the Benazir government, which had been abandoned by subsequent governments.

He added that people took away the material meant for manufacture of the building.

“The poor should be forgiven for succumbing to the temptation of pilfering the material,” he said, adding that a huge quantity of manufacturing material had already been taken away by area residents.

Mehnaz Bibi, a resident of the area, told Dawn that a large number of women in the locality had died during childbirth at the hands of quacks. “If the maternity home had become operational, it could have saved many lives,” she lamented.—Photos by Fahim Siddiqi