KARACHI - Experts said visionless and incompetent provincial Sindh government and civic institutions are totally unprepared to deal with any kind of disaster and Peshawar-like emergency situation in the Sindh province.
Mirza Ali Azhar, Secretary General, Pakistan Medical Association, Center, said Karachi city population has crossed the 25 million figure but medical institutions could not establish in the city to cater to the needs of the population. He said although a good number of private hospitals had been opened in the city but poor people could not afford expenses of these healthcares.
He said acute shortage of trauma center in the city is also a major issue in the city as Abbasi Shaheed hospital’s trauma center can only handle limited cases in case of emergency and disasters. Provincial and civic institutions are not ready to deal with disaster like situations in the metropolitan.
He said, incompetent provincial authorities are totally unprepared and visionless and they are not able to deal with emergencies like the Peshawar tragedy and in case of disaster. God forbid, if a Peshawar like incident occurs in Karachi in future, then who would deal with the situation, he questioned.
He said state run institutions must be well equipped and staff must remain on standby to deal with emergency like situations faced in Pakistan nowadays. Unfortunately no preparations have been seen at federal and provincial level to tackle the emergency like situations.
Senior Director Medical & Health Services, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Dr Salma Kausar when contacted said; The largest KMC run hospital Abbasi Shaheed Hospital can deal with only 500 patients at one time in case of emergency. He said despite all odds, medicines, staff and other medical instruments should always remain on standby to deal with any kind of situation.
He said; backup medical facilities are also available in Sobhraj Hospital and Landhi Medical Complex in case of disaster or emergency.
Joint Executive Director & In-charge Emergency Department, JPMC, Dr Seemin Jamali said; Like every segment of the society, the doctor community is also disturbed by the Peshawar tragedy. She said doctors are ready to provide medical facilities to people in case of emergency. We have successfully dealt over 250 patients including dead bodies during the Karsaz tragedy in the past and have the ability to manage 500 patients in casualty in case of emergency,” she added.