KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced on Friday that the provincial health budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 has been proposed at Rs326.5 billion, with an eight per cent increase from last year’s allocation of Rs302.2bn.

Addressing the Sindh Assembly, the CM said that the additional funding is aimed at enhancing service delivery across the health sector, with a focus on expanding access and improving the quality of care for citizens.

He said the allocation includes Rs18.2bn specifically reserved for medical education while a significant Rs146.9bn has been earmarked as grants-in-aid to support the operational efficiency of various health units, institutions and facilities serving the public across Sindh.

The CM shared that Rs16.5bn has been allocated for Peoples Primary Health Initiative Sindh, Rs10.0bn for Pir Syed Abdul Qadir Shah Jeelani Institute of Medical Sciences Gambat, Rs19bn for Sindh Institute of Urology &Transplantation Karachi (SIUT), Rs4bn for Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Accident Emergency and Trauma Centre Karachi, Rs6.6bn was proposed for Sindh Institute of Child Health and Neonatology Karachi, and Rs10bn for establishment of a hospital at Larkana.

Rs8bn was proposed for Indus Hospital, Rs3bn for Child Life Foundation, Rs5.2bn for operational cost of 508 ambulances, 25 rapid-response and 12 boat ambulances-SIEHS. Rs557 million has been allocated for Mobile Diagnostic Emergency Health Service for providing health facilities at far flung destinations in rural areas.

In his budget speech, the CM announced that the Sindh government, in collaboration with its partners, has transformed three major public healthcare institutions: The Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), National Institute of Child Health and National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases into world-class facilities over the past 13 years.

He highlighted that the combined bed capacity of the institutions has increased from 2,092 to 4,041, reflecting a significant expansion in public healthcare services.

The chief minister further revealed that the construction of a new 12-storey medical tower and a seven-storey officers ward is nearing completion at the JPMC. “This will make the JPMC not only the largest healthcare facility in the country but also among the largest in the world,” Shah stated.

According to Mr Shah, patient visits to the three institutions have surged from 1.6m in 2011 to over 4m in the current year. The annual budget also saw a dramatic rise from Rs1.9bn at the time of devolution to over Rs30bn on June 13.

All three institutions are now equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment, including fully operational CT scanners, MRI scanners and angiography units, he added.

Highlighting advancements in cancer care, CM Shah said the provincial government, in partnership with the Patients Aid Foundation (PAF-JPMC), has revolutionised radiation oncology services by introducing CyberKnife, Tomotherapy and PET-CT facilities.

The CM said that with the support of the provincial government, the SIUT has grown into one of the largest public sector healthcare organisations of South Asia providing facilities in urology, nephrology, transplantation and hepato-gastroenterology, oncology and paediatrics.

He said that in the last 54 years of its journey, the SIUT has touched the lives of over 35m patients. He said the SIUT has now grown into a 1,600-bed comprehensive healthcare system with 82 departments. With approximately 400 dialysis machines, it is the largest dialysis centre in the country, catering to 30pc of Pakistan’s and 60pc of Sindh’s total dialysis cases, the chief minister added.

He said that having performed over 7,500 kidney transplants to date, the SIUT is the largest kidney transplant centre in the country, offering lifelong follow-up and free medication.

He said that the SIUT has provided free treatment with dignity to over 4.2m patients across 10 centres, adding that over 70pc of those patients were from the province of Sindh.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2025