Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Qaim Ali Shah said on Monday that the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) is one of the major hospitals devolved to the Sindh government under the 18th constitutional amendment.
“We have given special attention to this hospital and would further expand it in the larger interest of the people of Sindh,” he said.
He said this while presiding over a meeting on NICH at the CM House on Monday. The meeting was attended by Health Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar, Chief Secretary Siddque Memon, Principal Secretary to CM Alamuddin Bullo, Advocate General Zamir Ghumro, Health Secretary Ahmed Bux Narejo, Finance Secretary Sohail Rajput and National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) Director Syed Jamal Raza.
NICH Director Professor Raza said that the NICH is a six-storey and 500-beded hospital for children. He said the daily OPD ratio of the hospital is over 1,500 and there are around 29,000 annual admissions in the institute. Over 15,000 patients visit the emergency and 10,000 operations are conducted every year, he added.
He said that there is a sanctioned strength of 815 employees, including doctors, paramedical staff and others. Presently, 250 positions of pediatricians are vacant in different departments such as medicine, surgery, radiology, radiology-MRI, anesthesiology, neonatology and nephrology, he said.
He said that it is the only hospital for children where treatment is totally free. The Sindh government has provided all the facilities, including medicines, equipments and other requirements but the filling of vacant positions is necessary as there is a growing pressure of patients in its various departments such as OPD, admission and operation theatre, he said, adding that sometimes three patients are kept on a single bed.
The chief minister said that he has given an Annual Development Programme scheme to NICH for the expansion of nursery.
On this, the health minister said that the nursery has been expanded to a complete floor. Earlier, there were 40 incubators and now 60 incubators have been installed, he said.
Raza said that philanthropists have also contributed substantially. The chief minister said that the people of this city are God-fearing and believe in the service of humanity. “God always rewards them who contribute for ameliorating the sufferings of the people,” he said.
The chief minister said that he would establish another block of the NICH and directed the health minister to submit him a detailed proposal in this regard. “I want to make this institute (NICH) a model children hospital. This is the only hospital where children are given special treatment free of cost and even a simple receipt fee is not charged. The benefit of the investment in this hospital trickles down directly to the poor children,” he said.
Talking about the appointment of required staff, the chief minister asked the NICH director to constitute a committee to appoint lower staff. The court has granted stay against appointment of senior staff, therefore a separate working may be made to fill the vacant positions. “I cannot allow anybody to create hindrances in the treatment of ailing children,” he said.
He directed the health minister to take personal efforts and get the stay vacated so that the vacant positions could be filled. The promotion posts may also be filled through departmental promotions, he said.
He said that by the end of this month, he would inaugurate a newly established nursery in the NICH, therefore remaining work of the ward must be carried out on in time.