KARACHI: The Provincial Minister of Sindh for Health and Population Welfare, Azra Fazal Pechuho, recently stated that the restructuring of the healthcare system is currently underway in the Sindh province and is likely to reach completion by June 2020.
She shared these views during a question and answer session with health reporters at the New Building of the Sindh Assembly.
Azra Pechuho explained that the restructuring is being done for vertical programs, healthcare systems, and the supply of life-saving medicines to improve the overall situation of the health sector.
She informed that the restructuring process would be completed until next fiscal year.
She admitted that Sindh’s hospitals have been facing an acute shortage of life-saving drugs due to some technical issues and assured that the situation would improve in the upcoming months.
Expressing her concern over the deaths owing to the Congo fever, the Health Minister said that a total 29 people had been infected from the Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) so far out of which 16 have died, and 13 have been cured. She informed that the livestock department had been given a task to check the entry of animals in Balochistan and conduct fumigation in this regard.
However, she said it was impossible to inspect every animal during Eid ul Azha days as millions of sacrificial animals were brought in cattle markets of Karachi. Twelve people died due to this brain-eating amoeba, known as Naegleria fowleri, in Karachi this year, she added.
Azra Pechuho said the cases of water and food-borne diseases has also significantly increased across the Sindh province after the heavy monsoon rains, poor cleanliness, and improper disposal garbage. She informed that the score of diarrhea, typhoid, and gastroenteritis cases are being reported in Sindh’s hospitals every day.
She informed that the Regional Blood Transfusion Centre of Karachi would be made operational under a public-private partnership soon.
