Health minister says medical staff will receive raise in salaries

Prof. Shahzama, Prof Jamal Raza, discussed the services rendered at the hospitals.

KARACHI: The Sindh health minister, Dr Saghir Ahmed, assured maximum support in ensuring that funds are regularly available for the smooth functioning of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), National Institute of Child Health (NICH) and National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD).

Speaking on the first day of the 49th Annual Symposium of the JPMC, themed “Every Life Counts”, he said that assistance would also be provided to numerous healthcare and postgraduate medical training programmes being carried out in the country’s largest tertiary care hospital.

Ahmed said the three afore mentioned hospitals were transferred to the health department under the 18th constitutional amendment and will not be deprived of their due share. Doctors, nurses and paramedical staff of the three hospitals were also assured that they would get a raise in their salaries.

Commending the performance of JPMC, one of the oldest postgraduate medical training centres in the country, the minister said that considering the facilities and human resource available at the centre, it could be granted university status.

He informed the symposium that a summary of Rs560 million forwarded by him, to raise the salaries of nurses and paramedics of the Sindh government hospitals, had been approved by the chief minister, Qaim Ali Shah and by the finance department.

The JPMC executive director Prof. Tasnim Ahsan, Prof. Khan Shahzama of NICVD, and Prof Jamal Raza of NICH, extensively discussed the services rendered at their respective hospitals while stressing on the need for constant support to further improve their performance.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2012.