Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the new state-of-the-art facilities at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) would provide substantive relief to people of Sindh, including Karachi. He said, “It is definitely a gift of Sindh government to the people and will prove to be as another milestone in healthcare sector.” The newly inaugurated units of JPMC include the 120-bed Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, the 110-bed Department of Neurology and Stroke Unit, and the cutting-edge CyberKnife S7-FIM, continuing the Sindh province’s commitment to providing quality and free healthcare services to people. Bilawal Bhutto addressing the inaugural ceremony at JPMC said that the standard hospitals were located in Sindh province and added that Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), and National Institute of Child Health (NICH) represented top healthcare institutions in the country.

He said that these three institutions stood as a beacon of hope and termed these as exemplary models of good governance and successful public-private partnerships by the provincial government. The PPP Chairman said this showed that how effectively the province had managed its institutions in the post-18th Constitutional Amendment. “You may have heard criticisms suggesting that the Sindh government does nothing or that we don’t undertake mega projects. But actions speak louder than words,” he added. He emphasized that after the devolution of powers from the Center, the PPP-led provincial government had established one of the world’s largest heart hospitals, NICVD, besides offering free treatment to patients.

Furthermore, NICH was providing free healthcare services to children, he added. Bilawl Bhutto mentioned that JPMC’s CyberKnife machine, used for cancer treatment, was available in only a handful of countries worldwide. He pointed out that while cancer treatment using this machine abroad had a cost of over a thousand dollars, JPMC offered the same treatment for free, surely an unprecedented facility in the world. He also highlighted that the Royal College of Radiology had ranked JPMC’s cancer treatment department among the top ten in the world. He commended the contribution of Sindh’s business community for partnering with the provincial government in providing free healthcare services and recognized them as leaders in charity work across the country.

The PPP Chairman said that Sindh government took pride in providing free and quality healthcare services to the public. He further noted that the expensive PET-CT scan required for cancer diagnosis was also not offered free Sindh. He proudly stated that JPMC’s cancer department attracted patients from 167 cities across the country, as well as from 15 other countries. Bilawal expressed his willingness to assist in establishing similar hospitals in other provinces and highlighted ongoing efforts to set up such facilities in Balochistan. The PPP Chairman also participated in a signing ceremony between the Patients’ Aid Foundation and the Sindh Government for the Radiation Oncology Section at JPMC. The ceremony was also attended by Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, Health Minister Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, provincial ministers, assembly members, and party leaders.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan