Karachi: Mayor Karachi, Barrister Murtaza Wahab, has directed the establishment of emergency wards in major hospitals under the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to address diseases such as chikungunya, malaria, and dengue. He also called for a feasibility report for building child homes for street children, old age homes for the elderly, and treatment facilities for drug addicts. Temporary hiring of doctors and specialists will be carried out in various KMC hospitals, and medical superintendents were instructed to enhance patient care facilities.

According to Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, these directives were issued during a meeting of the Medical and Health Services Department chaired by Mayor Wahab. The meeting was attended by Municipal Commissioner of KMC, Afzal Zaidi, Financial Advisor Gulzar Ali Abro, Senior Director of Medical Services Imran Samdani, and other officials, including medical superintendents of KMC hospitals. Mayor Wahab emphasized the importance of KMC institutions as a public trust, aiming to provide essential medical services at the grassroots level.

The Mayor reviewed hospital facilities and called for immediate action to implement guidelines for improvement. He stressed the intolerance of unauthorized occupations within government hospitals and tasked the administration with actively opposing such incidents. Plans were discussed to convert the Sobhraj Maternity Hospital into a Mother and Child Hospital, addressing staff shortages and upgrading departments. The Leprosy Hospital in Manghopir is to be modernized, with encroachments on its land being removed immediately.

The Mayor also noted the repair of the morgue at Landhi Medical Complex, which will be operational within a week, and the activation of the morgue at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Both facilities will improve cold storage capacities for the city. Mayor Wahab expressed concerns about beggars and drug addicts affecting the city’s image, advocating for a strategy in collaboration with the Sindh government to address these issues. Medical superintendents were urged to propose hospital enhancements for further development.