KARACHI, Feb 12: The government has initiated some urgent reforms to set things right in the health sector, Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro said.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 39th annual medical symposium of the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) here on Tuesday, Mr Soomro said “the government has embarked on a comprehensive plan of action to provide effective health cover to all, especially the weaker sections of the society.”

He pointed out that the policy was aimed at bringing qualitative and quantitative improvement in the situation. “To this end the government is implementing with full vigour a well-thought out policy of decentralization of the health-care system.”

The governor said immediate improvement in health-care delivery system demanded efficient utilization of limited resources. Efforts in this regard, he said, could not bear fruit without the cooperation and support of the medical community, particularly the specialists and experts in various fields.

The government is fully aware of the fact that most of the public sector hospitals lacked basic equipment and supplies and were unable to provide support to all the underprivileged, he observed.

“For those who cannot afford the rising cost of medicines and forbidding fee of specialists, the only alternative is to take recourse to the public sector hospitals of which the JPMC stand as a beacon. The situation in the rural areas is equally worse and serious patients have to be referred to major centres to get advanced medical care,” he remarked.

He appealed to the participants of the symposium to help the government fulfil its commitment to the people.

“This is also dictated by ethics of your profession,” he said, adding that as doctors they have to play a very important role in this regard, beginning from the training of young doctors.

Mr Soomro said the primary need was to set personal example and invite others to emulate.

He said the JPMC had a long history of efforts, determination, and hard work of its staff who had contributed in providing health-care facilities to the ailing masses from all parts of the country.

“The JPMC is also the torch-bearer of post-graduate teaching and is meeting the ever-increasing demand in the field of medicine. Since 1972, it has also been discharging the responsibility of under-graduate teaching through the Sindh Medical College.

“It is indeed not a minor achievement that after a struggle of 60 years, the JPMC is rending health-care service as a tertiary care centre of excellence. It has resolutely stood the test of changing times and dwindling resources to attain the high goals laid down by the Father of the Nation, whose name it proudly upholds,” Mr Soomro said.

He emphasised the need that bringing about a radical change in the life of the common man was a high priority of the government. A crucial factor in this context is the organization and delivery of better health services at an affordable cost, he added.

JPMC director Qazi Abdul Shakoor, while highlighting major problems affecting smooth working of the centre, urged the government to enhance the annual financial allocation as the current fund of Rs2.5 million was not enough to fulfil health requirements of a large number of needy patients.

He said patients’ attendants, a large number of which come from the interior of Sindh, were facing accommodation problems due to non-availability of space in the hospital.

Dr Shabnum Farooqui, coordinator of the symposium, said obesity and diabetes had affected a large segment of population the world over as two major problems. Pakistan, she said, had been grappling with the issues of malnutrition and other infectious diseases, which manifested the plight of the health sector in the country.—APP/PPI