Neonatal ICU established at Koohi Goth Hospital

The facility will provide free healthcare services for treating newborns from nearby rural areas

KARACHI: A neonatal intensive care unit was inaugurated at a Koohi Goth Hospital in Malir on Sunday, primarily to provide free healthcare services for treating newborns from nearby rural areas.

The ICU facility at Koohi Goth Hospital is equipped with modern Multidirectional Phototherapy machines for treating newborns diagnosed with severe jaundice as well as eight incubators, which would increase to 24 later.

Hamdard Foundation Chairperson Sadia Rashid inaugurated the ICU facility on which a cost of around Rs17.5 billion has been spent.

Speaking on the occasion, Rashid appreciated the step taken by the management of Koohi Goth Hospital and said that the facility served a purpose in line with the mission of late Hakim Saeed, who cared much about the health, physical upkeep, upbringing, and education of children in Pakistan.

Dr Shershah Syed, who manages the Koohi Goth Hospital, informed the audience at the inauguration ceremony that this would be the first neonatal ICU unit in the country, which would be entirely managed by technicians.

Dr Syed said that Koohi Goth Hospital had been handling 15 to 20 delivery cases every day and the ICU facility would contribute towards saving the lives of newborns suffering from different medical conditions. He further said that the neonatal ICU would also provide treatment for newborns delivered by midwives at home.

Adding to this, Dr Tipu Sultan of Zafar and Atia Foundation Charitable Trust said that the establishment of the ICU facility would ensure that infants born in underprivileged areas and low-income households receive adequate medical care so that they have good mental and physical health and grow up to become productive members of the society.

Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Foundation also attended the inauguration ceremony and said that such units could greatly contribute towards establishing an exemplary healthcare system in Pakistan, where poor patients would get free medical treatment.