KARACHI, Aug 6: City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal has said that Abbasi Shaheed Hospital Trauma Centre will be opened soon and after a lapse of several years corneal transplantation facility at Spencer Eye Hospital will be revived within a week.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of a new ward of Chiniot Hospital in Korangi on Sunday, he said that all the city government-run hospitals had medicines stock for one year.

Mustafa Kamal said that when he assumed the charge as nazim not more than 200 patients could be admitted in the 800-bed Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. But the city government made efforts towards its improvement and today a large number of patients were admitted there, as availability of medicines at the hospital had been ensured, he added.

He said a state-of-the-art trauma centre had been set up in the hospital which would soon be inaugurated. He said that the present city government was taking measures to make its 32 hospitals the best health centres. In this regard, he said that the city government had decided to pay the doctors better stipend than those working at Aga Khan Hospital.Besides, it had also been decided to terminate inactive staff without any delay and replace them with employees to be recruited on contract, he added.

We have decided to keep the best staff with excellent facilities at our hospitals to serve citizens in a better way, he added.

The nazim said that medical stores had been set up at every floor of the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital so that patients could be provided with medicines without any difficulty.

Mustafa Kamal said that with the introduction of computerised system in all city government run hospitals, no absent employee would get salary. The staff coming to the hospitals have to put their thumb impression on machine to mark their presence, he explained.

About the Spencer’s Eye Hospital, the nazim said that the city government had arranged cornea from Sri Lanka and corneal transplantation facility would be revived there within a week. Transplantation would be conducted every week afterwards, he added.

He said all of this had been made possible with the help of private sector, which brought revolutionary changes in the health sector. He lauded services of Chiniot Anjuman Islamia in the field of health and education.

On the occasion, Dr Zafar Iqbal presented the performance report of Chiniot Hospital.

Talking about the problems faced by citizens during rains, City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal said the problems of the city could not be solved completely unless it was governed by a single institution.

There were 13 land controlling authorities here, each responsible for provision of civic facilities to people living in its jurisdiction, but none of them had any machinery, he said. They should also be asked what they have done, he remarked.If the city government solves 100 per cent problems of about 40 per cent area (of the city) that falls in its jurisdiction, problems in rest of 60 per cent area will remain there. The solution is a single institution that is controlling authority for the whole city, he said while speaking at inaugural ceremony of a new ward at Chiniot Hospital in Korangi on Sunday.

Mustafa Kamal said that Karachi was the seventh largest city of the world and economic hub of the country, but it had been developed without any planning. He said that the rainwater accumulated on Star Gate, under FTC Bridge and near Empress Market and other such areas did not lie in jurisdiction of the city government. He claimed that water did not accumulate on any of the roads built by the city government nor uplift projects initiated by it created problems to citizens.

The nazim said that I.I. Chundrigar Road was one of the most important roads of the country and offices of all the banks of the country and major business centres are located. But for the last 60 years nobody even think that there should be drainage system on this road, he said.

He said that unless all institutions did not work under one body and a master plan, the problems of Karachi would persist and the situation would never improve.—PPI