KARACHI: Sindh Health Minister Dr Sikandar Ali Mandhro on Wednesday visited the National Institute of Blood Diseases (NIBD) and handed over a cheque of Rs300million, which is a grant to the administration for treatment of poor and destitute people who are suffering from blood cancer and require a bone-marrow transplant.
Talking to media, the minister said that the procedure of the transplant is very costly and private sector hospitals charge millions of rupees per patient, while bone-marrow transplant surgery facility is presently not available at government hospitals.
He said that the Sindh government is committed to providing financial aid to charity hospitals to provide maximum relief to poor patients.
The health minister also visited different departments of NIBD along with its Director Professor Dr Tahir Shamsi to review the health facilities being provided there. The institute’s administration apprised the minister that they have already been providing healthcare facilities to poor patients without any cost.
Dr Mandhro appreciated the commitment of NIBD and assured them of his full cooperation.
Earlier, Health Secretary Dr Fazalullah Pechuho had announced launching bone-marrow transplant procedures for children at NIBD.
Around 100 bone-marrow transplant surgeries of children are likely to be performed in the institute with the grant of Sindh government annually.