KARACHI, July 2: City Nazim Naimatullah Khan, citing health and education among top priorities of his government, has pledged all necessary support and protection to non-commercial health care institutions.

Speaking at the website-launching ceremony of the Al-Ibrahim Eye Hospital and Isra Post-Graduate Institute of Ophthalmology on Friday, the nazim mentioned that the city government had earmarked the 30-31 per cent of its Rs20.5 billion annual budget for education sector, and another 20 per cent for the health sector.

Claiming that this was the highest ever budget allocation in the entire financial history of the metropolis, which had been made for the health and education sectors, the nazim maintained that yet this was not sufficient for a district where population was recorded to be growing at a pace of 5 per cent, annually.

He added that the situation demanded an urgency to promote public and private sectors' partnership, and the city government, acknowledging the selfless spirit of committed individuals trying to serve the masses, would ensure that no unscrupulous elements should hamper such public welfare projects.

He lauded the services rendered by Al-Ibrahim hospital and Isra institute under the guidance of a dedicated public health professional, Prof Swaleh Memon. Mr Khan particularly appreciated the fact that a state-of-art health care facility and post-graduate institute were established and functioning in the rural area of the city, which was not only providing updated eye treatment to the poor, but was also offering training opportunities to local ophthalmologists.

The city nazim, on the occasion, reaffirmed his commitment that two of the towns, Gadap and Bin Qasim, which mainly comprised villages, and two other towns Malir and Keamari, with almost 50 per cent of their total area consisting of rural localities, would be extended all support in development activities.

In this regard, he also mentioned that there were no less than 538 urban slums in the city, where inhabitants were denied of basic civic amenities. According to him, the city government, despite facing a wide range of problems, including obsolete and faulty water supply network and poor sewerage system, was trying its best to improve the situation, for which people's support was required at all levels.

Meanwhile, rejecting the idea of imposing restrictions on the inflow of people to the city from other parts of the country, the nazim maintained that opportunities to earn livelihood must not be denied to the citizens of the country, who had been compelled to leave their native areas owing to a lack of employment opportunities or absence of an adequate infrastructure to invest.

In this regard, he maintained that all Karachiites must realize what they owed to the city, which offered them opportunities to grow, adding that it was up to the citizens to build public welfare institutions.

He said that some 20 major schemes meant to strengthen the city infrastructures were presently under way and would be completed within one year or so. The Nazim mentioned that on being convinced by President Gen Pervez Musharraf, the stake-holders in the city, who previously were utilizing the infrastructure but paying nothing, committed to contribute in its development.

Earlier, Dr Swaleh Memon, speaking at the event, mentioning the massive gap between the population growth and rapid increase in incidence of varied diseases, particularly eye ailments, said the poor health support system underscored the need for humanitarian efforts.

He also reminded the fast growing incidence of Diabetes, feared to soon become a major contributory factor in the rise in incidence of blindness among Pakistanis.

Giving a brief background of the Al-Ibrahim Hospital, he said an investment worth Rs20 million was made for procurement and installation of updated gadgets and another Rs10 million for construction of the facility, offering both outdoor and indoor services, through the support of philanthropists.

Meanwhile, referring to the inception of the project, he said it started as a modest 20-bed hospital in Murad Memon Goth in 1990, which moved to its present premises at the Old Thana Village, Malir, in 1994 with a 33-bed hospital for eye diseases.

The hospital was said to have treated 70,000 patients, besides performing over 5,000 surgeries, including 3,300 intraocular implant vasectomies for bleeding-eye diseases, while 340 patients were treated with YAG laser and 850 patients with Argon Laser.

It was also mentioned that the hospital had established three new clinics, including Pediatric Cornea Vision Aid Clinics, in addition to Retina, Glaucoma and Cataract clinics.

According to him, construction of a new operation theater in the hospital had been completed, besides completion of ward facility at the first floor of the hospital. He thanked the Ko-ordination, a social welfare project of Kalia Group, for helping in developing the website of the hospital and the post-graduate institute.

The ceremony was also addressed by Dr Saira of the Ko-ordination, Ghulam Qadir of the Isra Foundation, Ghulam Mustafa Baloch, Nazim Gadap Town and Hanif Kalia. Among others, the event was attended by the director of Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Center, Prof Kazi Abdul Shakoor, Sohail Bilgrami of Infaq Foundation, Naveedul Islam, Malir Town nazim and many others. -APP