CM urges philanthropists to support charitable endeavours for underprivileged

Sindh caretaker chief minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar on Sunday expressed hope that the University Medical Complex (UMC), a charitable tertiary-care hospital to be built in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, would serve as a milestone in fulfilling the burgeoning healthcare needs of Karachi’s residents.

Baqar was the chief guest at a fundraiser organised at a hotel for the construction of the UMC, which the Medics International has been building with the Baqir Health & Educational Welfare Trust and the Zaidi Abid Foundation (ZAF).

The interim CM noted that the healthcare needs of the city’s residents have been continuously increasing. He said the charitable healthcare facility would go a long way in phenomenally decreasing the burden of patients on the existing public hospitals in the city.

He thanked the healthcare professionals, philanthropists and charity leaders who conceived the idea of building a charitable tertiary-care hospital in the heart of the city in the shortest possible time.

He said the UMC’s construction is the embodiment of the collective efforts on the part of philanthropists and charitable institutions to improve the public healthcare standards in the city. He hoped that the UMC would also serve patients from underprivileged areas in rural Sindh and the adjoining parts of Balochistan.

He also said that the new tertiary-care health facility is not merely a brick-and-mortar structure because it would emerge as a symbol of hope, compassion and state-of-the-art treatment for patients belonging to underprivileged communities.

He noted that the UMC would also emerge as a centre of excellence in the field of medical education as it would establish linkages with leading medical universities of the world.

He praised the resolve of the MI and its partner charitable organisations to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of ailing people in the country that do not have the means to get the latest treatment facilities at the city’s elite private hospitals.

Baqar praised the MI’s charitable efforts continuing for the past three decades to provide essential healthcare facilities to patients in the country’s backward and rural areas, and to provide emergency medical aid to victims of natural disasters.

He urged philanthropists and donors to fully support the UMC’s construction as a state-of-the-art healthcare facility for the underprivileged patients in Karachi and its adjoining areas.

Her said the province’s caretaker government would provide whatever assistance is required to build the UMC, whether in the form of providing land or grant-in-aid.

MI Pakistan CEO Dr Dilbar Saeed said in his welcome remarks that his non-profit and partner charities aim to build the charitable hospital and make it operational in five to seven years.

Dr Saeed said the UMC would generate employment opportunities for over 1,000 senior healthcare professionals, who would provide specialised medical care to underprivileged patients.

He said the UMC would not decline essential treatment to any patient on the grounds of their financial inability because the healthcare facility would not stand for earning profits.

He also said that dedicated sections of the UMC would take care of the specialised medical needs of cancer and women patients. The UMC will work as a centre of excellence for healthcare professionals who aim to enhance their academic qualifications in accordance with international standards of medical education, he added.

The ZAF’s Dr Husain Mehdi said the UMC would serve underprivileged patients without any discrimination, adding that the beneficiaries of the tertiary-care hospital would belong to all ethnicities, religions and sects. He said the UMC’s construction would begin next month.

Sindh Higher Education Commission Chairman Prof Dr SM Tariq Rafi hoped that philanthropists and donors in Karachi would ensure the UMC’s construction in the shortest possible time.

Actor Khaled Anam, who conducted the fundraiser, also announced donating an ambulance on behalf of his family for the hospital. Philanthropist Nadra Panjwani announced a donation of Rs5 million for the UMC.