Sindh govt to outsource two hospitals on public-private partnership model

Operations at Matli taluka hospital will be outsourced to improve administration

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to begin operations under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, at two of the newly constructed hospitals, Jacobabad Institute of Medical Science (JIMS) and Matli taluka hospital. The decision was made during a PPP policy board meeting chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

Attendees of the meeting were informed that JIMS has been built with American support. It is a 133-bed health facility with the total staff strength of 141, of whom only 14 are government employees. Presently, only a few departments at the hospital are functional.  As per the records for 2018, the facility received 492,566 OPD cases, 4,130 obstetrics cases and 2,061 pertaining to family planning.

Addressing the participants of the meeting, the CM said that JIMS is a "state-of-the-art hospital, which should operate as a tertiary health facility."

Health department officials proposed that the hospital be operated under the PPP model so that it may function more efficiently. The PPP policy board approved the health department's proposal and has invited Expression of Interest from the private sector.

It was also decided in the meeting that operations at the 30-bed Matli taluka hospital will be outsourced, so as to improve its administration and meet other requirements. However, the CM has ordered that health department also take independent initiatives to meet the health facility's requirements pertaining to the hiring of medical staff and paramedical staff.

Matli taluka hospital was established in 1975 and has a bed occupancy rate of 20 to 25, per day. It houses a TB clinic, a family planning unit, as well as a labour room, where 100 to 125 deliveries are carried out every month.

Malir Expressway

Meanwhile, the attendees of the meeting were also apprised about the progress of the Malir Expressway project.

They were informed that the project is almost ready to be launched but its cost is likely to increase due to the ban placed on lifting sand and gravel from the bed of Malir River. The CM directed the chief secretary to conduct an environmental study in this regard. If the study concludes that lifting sand and gravel can damage the environment, then sand and gravel for the project's completion would be arranged from elsewhere, and if not, then the government would request the Supreme Court to lift the ban, he said.

Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, Sindh local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Planning and Development Department Chairperson Naheed Shah, NED University of Engineering and Technology Vice-Chancellor Dr Sarosh Lodhi, provincial secretaries including Qazi Shahid Parvez, Najam Shah, Saeed Awan, Ahsan Mangi, Aslam Ansari, PPP Unit Managing Director Khalid Shaikh, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board Managing Director Asadullah Khan and others attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2019.