Mayor Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab has said that the PPP-led Sindh government has worked on improving the National Institute of Cardiology (NIC) and Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) during the last 12 years and there was a need to focus on basic health issues in the province.He said this while speaking as chief guest on the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the NIC, JSMU and the Association of Pakistani Descent Cardiologists of North America and at the opening ceremony of the JSMU’s Landhi campus for prevention and treatment of heart diseases, blood pressure and diabetes.
The mayor said that the establishment of a health center for the treatment of heart diseases and diabetes in Landhi area was a good omen for Karachi, which would help the citizens for free medical tests like blood pressure, ECG, laboratory tests, echocardiography, doppler, peripheral vascular, ultrasound, medical consultation from senior cardiologists besides getting medicines free of charge. Vice Chancellor JSMU Professor AmjadSirajMemon, Executive Director of National Institute of Cardiology Professor TahirSagheer and Chairman of Almanai Association JavedSulaiman and others were also present on the occasion.
Barrister MurtazaWahab said our behavior regarding treatment has become such that we believe in more careful treatment and reaction and when doctors are treating in hospitals and pharma industries are running the state is considered successful while the need is to create awareness among the people regarding the timely diagnosis and preventive measures of the disease.
He said that there were 14 health centers of KMC in 25 towns of Karachi, four or five primary health centers in each town were built by the government, some of which are inactive which should also be activated. If the local government, JSMU and NICVD should work together, we can make a comprehensive and efficient system for this, he added. He said that the age for National Identity Card was 18 years and the citizens would soon be directed to undergo some tests if they renewed their identity cards in NADRA at the age of 20.
The office of the Mayor of Karachi will surely provide necessary help in this regard, he said. MurtazaWahab said that there was a good facility in any institution. Revenue plays an important role in providing facilities and everyone knows the fees of students who come to private colleges to study medicine in Karachi. Fees of KMDC is still lower than private sector medical colleges as KMDC had an expenditure of Rs 1.1 billion and has funds of 400 million. The amount they paid for their studies will be returned to them in four months while working in AbbasiShaheed Hospital, he said.
The mayor Karachi said that Jinnah Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Trauma Center of Civil Hospital receive trauma cases of Balochistan, these institutions also have procurement issues, but the management of the hospitals should focus on providing maximum facilities to the patients regardless of lack of medical equipment.
In 2007, six thousand employees were recruited in a day in the Water Board, he told.
