THIS is apropos of Dr Sarwar Jamil Siddiqui’s letter ‘ICUs at public hospitals’ (April 15). It is my duty to clarify the situation In a statement given published in many national newspapers on March 24, Prof Liaquat Ali said: “It is the first biggest Medical ICU of the country where poor patients will be given free ICU cover. It has 10 ventilator beds , 20 high dependency beds, four isolation rooms (two with ventilators ) and two general medical wards. It has also been stated that for construction of building and equipments all funds (approximately 140 million) has been provided by a donor family, and responsibilities of running the ward, including provision of medical staff, medicines, maintaining basic utilities (electricity, oxygen supply, etc) will be taken by the JPMC.”

For the sake of record, it may be mentioned that the first ICU at the JPMC was established in 1985, long before 1991, followed by more selective ICUs, i.e. neurosurgical ICU, surgical ICU, chest ICU and other smaller units.

It is worth mentioning that emergency services at the JPMC have also been upgraded recently and the Emergency Department has its own ICU as well, along with three ventilators.

DR SHAHBAZ HAIDER & Dr QURBAN HUSSAIN Medical ICU/Medical Unit IV JPMC Karachi