Child health: ‘Not enough incubators’

Dr Domki said ventilators and incubators at the hospital were not enough to accommodate all the children.

KARACHI: The nursery unit of the Children Hospital, North Nazimabad was completed over a year ago, but while the unit has eight incubators and three ventilators, it has yet to open for public because it has no staff to run it.

Private hospitals can charge up to Rs15,000 a day for a ventilator.

National Institute of Child Health Hospital Deputy Director Dr Arshad Hussain Domki said that the ventilators and incubators at the hospital were not enough to accommodate all the children who were admitted.

Meanwhile, Civil Hospital, Karachi has six ventilators, out of which two are out of order and the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital has five ventilators for the children’s ward, out of which two are not working.

Sindh Health Secretary Hashim Raza Zaidi said that they have formed a team of doctors to collect data on the number of incubators, ventilators and other facilities at government hospitals in the province. He said that the team would present a report to the health department, after which the broken down equipment would be repaired.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st,  2011.