KARACHI, July 24: In view of some reservations on the ongoing renovation of a 110-year-old building, the board of governors of the Civil Hospital Karachi on Tuesday decided to seek expert advice before undertaking similar works on other old buildings on the hospital premises.

Sources privy to the meeting said that the matter pertaining to what the administration maintained to give a ‘hygienic look and texture’ to the ENT block of the hospital was taken up by some of the members.

There have been observations that that the ongoing renovation by the works and sanitation department of the government through the ADP fund would not restore the original outward appearance of the stone structure and the hospital administration should have gone for sand-blasting or some special washing and filling-in process.

The members who raised the issue were told that work executers had contacted an architect on the subject, but the expert’s suggestions did not sound feasible to the authorities and later it was decided to stick to the idea of plastering the outer walls of the building with a cement and sand mix, carving lines on it, and then painting it yellow.

Now, after undergoing changes the stone building located near the main gate of the Civil Hospital, is proving to be a source of irritation to all those who care for historical buildings.

However, one CHK official told Dawn that the plaster works were preferred to sand-blasting in order to maintain symmetry between the building of the ENT block and the nurses’ hostel building opposite the stone structure. Moreover, since more than half of the job had been done outside the ENT building it would not be appropriate to halt the process, the official added, saying that works on other two old buildings of Medical ward-3 and Orthopaedic ward would not be under taken until a consensus was developed on the method of renovation and repairing.

A press release issued after the BoG meeting said that the stone structures would be protected as per the advice of a renowned architect.

The CHK BoG meeting was chaired by its chairman, Abu Shamim Arif, while Prof Masood Hameed Khan, vice-chancellor of the DUHS, CHK Medical Superintendent Dr Kaleem Butt, LGH Medical Superintendent Khawaja Mukhtar, Kauser Pervaiz and Abdul Sami Khan, were among the participants.

The meeting laid emphasis on strong nursing care of the patients and agreed in principle to appoint staff nurses and other necessary staff on a contract basis against a lump sum package on vacant positions.

The board also stressed the need for an early decision on the relocation of the neurology and eye wards of the hospital so that the project of ‘Accidents and Emergency Centre and Ancillary Services Complex’ could be started soon.

The BoG also requested the Sindh government to handover the budget and staff for the maintenance and repair as well as the ADP schemes of the hospital at the disposal of the board on a permanent basis. The government would also be pursued for an urgent implementation of the ‘Hospital management information system’ for the CHK, included the resolutions of the meeting.