Improving healthcare: Advisory board proposes partial privatisation of Sindh hospitals

The purpose is to improve the standard and quality of health services.

KARACHI: The Sindh Health Advisory Board has proposed phase-wise, partial privatisation of different hospitals in the province in order to improve the standard and quality of healthcare.

The meeting was held at the Sindh Assembly building chaired by the board's chairperson and provincial minister for parliamentary affairs Dr Sikander Mandhro. It was decided that Lyari General Hospital, Civil Hospital, Hyderabad, and District Headquarters Hospital, Badin, will be recommended in the first phase of the partial privatisation.

After extensive deliberations, it was agreed unanimously that close coordination between the health department and private sector facilities was needed to provide quality healthcare to the public.

It was decided that the government would authorise the private sector, comprising reputable nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and charitable facilities, to use government funds so that they can provide qualified and trained manpower along with medication and other required facilities.

Moreover, the board decided to constitute a committee comprising health experts from the private and public sectors, philanthropists and public representatives, to monitor the performance of these partially privatised hospitals.

Participants of the meeting decided that representatives of NGOs and private hospitals will submit a report about facilities and resources available at the Lyari General Hospital, Civil Hospital, Hyderabad, and District Headquarters Hospital, Badin, to the board within the next 10 days.

The meeting was attended by health secretary Iqbal Hussain Durrani and other senior officials of the health department along with representatives from the Indus Hospital and the Bahria Foundation.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2014.