CM announces establishment of children hospitals at tehsil level

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday formally inaugurated the 200-bed Sindh Institute of Child Health and Neonatology (SICHN) Children Hospital Korangi, which has a 28-bed paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and 52-bed neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

The children hospital is equipped with 21 ventilators, 26 high-flow ventilations, and 20 phototherapy lights. The hospital has 41-bed general paediatric wards and it has an out-patient department (OPD) to cater to 350 patients per day.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Parliamentary Secretary for Health Qasim Soomro and Health Secretary Zulfikar Shah.

The CM congratulated the people of Korangi and its adjoining areas on the establishment of the children hospital in their area. He also lauded the SICHN for setting up a state-of-art facility.

Shah said the Pakistan Peoples Party government had practically served the people of District Korangi by giving them the best road infrastructure, flyover, transport and the children hospital instead of giving mere consolations to them.

He added that the hospital had multiple facilities, including OPD, radiology, NICU, PICU, general paediatrics, rehabilitation room, pharmacy and a well-equipped lab. He said the Sindh government decided to strive more for the health care of newborns after SICHN Executive Director Dr Jamal Raza had given a presentation on the issues of child health.

Shah said he was told that Pakistan had 45.6 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births and 80 per cent of those deaths could be prevented through the provision of adequate facilities. In order to reduce the neonatal death rate, a three-tier system was being implemented comprising provision of primary care in the form of basic health care units, followed by secondary care units at the tehsil level consisting of Kangaroo Mother Care (skin–to–skin contact between a mother and her new-born, frequent or exclusive breastfeeding, and early discharge from the hospital) facilities, fluid supports, and essential units primitive for the health care of both the mother and her child, the CM said, adding that the third tier would be by tertiary care units at the district level providing specialised consultative health care.

Shah said that under the augmentation plan for the children hospital of the SICHN, the Sindh government was going to establish a paediatric surgical unit, services for sub-specialties, expand laboratories and upgrade the existing infrastructure.

The CM said that the SICHN’s satellite centre project at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre was still in its nascent stages but even then it had discharged 92 percent of its cases in a stable condition. The average number of deliveries per day stood at 35, he said and added that the neonatal intensive care unit was being expanded in collaboration with Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine.

He explained that a collaboration and community development training unit had also been established where 72 staffers, including doctors, nurses and paramedics of DHO East and Korangi, and 36 of the Chiniot General Hospital had been trained in handling newborns. Earlier, the CM visited different wards of the hospital and OPD where he interacted with mothers who had brought their children for check-up and treatment.