The construction work on five burns centres, a project initiated by the Sindh Health Department in 2009, in different cities of the province has not been completed despite the passage of five years due the lethargy of bureaucracy, it has been learned.
An official of the Sindh Health Department said that the construction work on five new burns centres in the province was started in 2009 at a cost of Rs255 million and was slated for completion in 2011, but it could not be completed by 2015 due to the lethargy of officials concerned.
The plan was approved by former Sindh health minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed. Under the plan, five burns centres had to be set up in Liaquatabad Hospital Karachi, Liaquat University & Hospital Jamshoro (Hyderabad), Chandka Medical College Hospital Larkana, Ghulam Muhammad Mehar Medical Collage Sukkur and Civil Hospital Mirpurkhas.
The official said that construction and opening of these burns centres would save precious lives of patients wounded in cylinder blasts, bomb blast fires, by acid, electricity and other types of fire.
He said presently there was only one burn centre operating in the province in Civil Hospital Karachi. He said that many precarious patients died before reaching Karachi from interior Sindh, so the construction of these burns centres was crucial.
The existing burn centre is operating under public-private partnership, which has already been overburdened due to the rush of patients with burns injures brought here not only from the city but also from far-flung areas of the province and the country. The official further said that this burn centre only had a capacity of 65 beds. He added that many patients and their attendants faced great hardships when they reached this centre as there was no place for them to stay and many of these people could not meet their expenses of food and other needs.
