KARACHI, April 7: The Sindh Government Qatar Hospital celebrated the opening of a building on Monday which will house the OPD of its paediatrics department.

It also celebrated the inauguration of a neonatal care unit which is equipped with three incubators and a warmer.

Funds for the building and the equipment came from donors. Both the projects mentioned were thus of the self-help type.

The AMS of the hospital, Dr Jamaluddin Sheikh, told Dawn that some toilets once stood at the site where the paediatric department’s OPD now stands. “The toilets were of little use to us. That’s why we demolished them and built some rooms for the OPD.”

In response to a question, he said: “The paeds OPD was previously housed in rooms which were located in four different parts of the hospital. In other words, the OPD was divided into four parts.”

Dr Sheikh said about Rs1 million had been spent by various donors for the import of the three incubators and warmer for the paeds department. And only Rs200,000 was spent on the construction of its OPD wing.

“All the money has been raised by us on self-help basis. Not a single penny has come from the government coffers.”

Earlier, speaking as chief guest at the inauguration ceremony the additional chief secretary (finance) — Fazal-ur-Rehman — promised that he would look into the budgetary requirements of the hospital.

He agreed with the administration of Qatar Hospital that adequate funds be released for running its upgraded ICU.

EDO Health Ali Nawaz Sheikh urged the authorities to help in the expansion of the hospital.

Dr Jamaluddin Sheikh said last year about 3,600 surgeries were performed. Similarly, 12,000 patients were admitted. On an average, between 3,000 and 4,000 people visited various OPDs daily.

Qatar Hospital is the only government hospital of its kind where surgeries are being performed round-the-clock, he claimed.

Dr Khalid Zuberi said that the paediatrics department handled between 400 to 500 outpatient cases a day. In addition, about 100 children were admitted every month.

MS Dr Nasrullah Malik presented the welcome address.