Corneal transplants, laser surgeries to resume at Spencer Eye Hospital

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar has urged the Sindh government to own 13 hospitals being run by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) in the city, saying these hospitals were in a shambles due to a lack of funds, the absence of medicines and for want of repair and maintenance.

“The KMC is running 13 hospitals in the city, but due to financial constraints we are unable to pay salaries to our doctors, hospitals are without medicines and equipment, and due to that patients and people of Karachi are suffering,” he said while speaking at the inauguration of a Corneal Transplant Project and the restart of Phacoemulsification Surgery at the Spencer Eye Hospital, Karachi, on Friday.

Eye surgeons led by Dr Birbal Genani, the medical superintendent and the senior director jealth and medical services of the KMC, will transplant corneas received from Sri Lanka after 17 years to patients on Saturday after Lions of Pakistan provided corneas to the hospital.

Similarly, Phacoemulsification Surgery would also restart at the Spencer Eye Hospital, which used to treat cataract by using laser technology, Dr Birbal Geneni said, adding that all these facilities would be provided free to needy and deserving patients.

Mayor Akhtar said that when the Sindh government was providing billions of rupees to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and other government-run hospitals, it should also provide funds to the KMC-run health facilities, which were also properties of the Sindh government and serving the people of Sindh.

“We are unable to provide salaries to our doctors and staff. There is an acute shortage of medicines and equipment at the KMC-run hospitals while buildings are also in a shambles. We are trying our best to run them through our own financial resources but are unable to run them properly,” he said and added that only the people of Sindh, especially Karachi, were suffering due to the poor condition of these hospitals.

He also urged the well-to-do personalities of the society and philanthropists to come forward and assist the municipal authorities in running these hospitals, saying the provincial government should constitute a committee comprising representatives from civil society and senior health professionals to run them properly.

Faisal Edhi, son of Maulana Abdus Sattar Edhi, said his father had a very close coordination with the Spencer Eye Hospital and he used to assist the hospital in serving people where patients from entire Sindh and other provinces used to come and get medical treatment.

He also criticised the authorities for stopping funds to the KMC-run hospitals and urged the government to improve their condition of all health facilities in the province so that people did not have to come to Karachi for seeking medical services and treatment.

Lauding the administration of the Spencer Eye Hospital, especially its MS Dr Birbal Genani, he hoped that the hospital would regain its glory and server people from the entire province.

Dr Genani said the hospital was one of the leading health facilities in the region where people from across Pakistan and even Afghanistan used to come to availing medical services, but due to negligence, it lost its importance and glory in the recent years.

“Now we are once again reviving this hospital by restarting corneal transplants and Phaco surgery. We are providing these services as well as medicines free of charge with the help of philanthropists, but we need government support to make it a world-class facility once again,” he maintained.

Municipal Commissioner Dr Saif-ur-Rehman also deplored that the Spencer Eye Hospital had lost its importance and status due to years of neglect, but he vowed to pay full attention to the health facility and make it one of the leading centres for the treatment of eyes in the city and the country once again. Mayor Akhtar and other officials visited different wards and departments of the hospital and assured patients that they would be provided all possible facilities and services.