Sindh health department – Pakistan Gender News

By: BHAGWANDAS

KARACHI: Not a very rosy picture of the Sindh health department came out when data relating to children’s death owing to easily curable disease measles, detection of women victims of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (Aids), and vacant posts of doctors in the interior of the province was presented in the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday.

The data was presented by Sindh Health Minister Jam Mahtab Dahar during the question hour — that pertained to the health department –– in Tuesday’s session of the assembly.

At least three of the questions taken up on Tuesday were earlier asked by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional legislator Nusrat Seher Abbasi. But when the speaker called out her name repeatedly, she had joined her party colleagues who were protesting as Shaharyar Mahar of the PML-F was not being allowed by the speaker to talk on a point of explanation. After calling out her name for a few times, the speaker moved to the next question.

In a written answer to a question asked by Ms Abbasi regarding the number of children who died of measles in the province during 2012, the minister said that 209 children had died during the year, with Sukkur leading the tally with 33 deaths followed by Shikarpur with 32 deaths and Larkana 22. In Khairpur, the home district of Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, 16 children had died.

Responding to a question asked by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf legislator Khurram Sherzaman about Aids in women, the minister said that over 455 women had been detected to be suffering from Aids in the province and of them 277 were in Karachi. The next biggest number of women victims of Aids was in Larkana, the home district of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto.

He said 74 patients who belonged to other provinces were also found suffering from Aids and 29 of them were foreigners.

Answering another question asked by the same legislator regarding diarrhoea deaths of children between 2011 and 2013 at the Lyari General Hospital, situated in an area considered to be a stronghold of the ruling party in the city, the minister said 4,991 children had died at the LGH during the period. He said 1,691 died in 2011, 1,720 died in 2012 and in 2013 1,580 children died there.

In a written answer to a question asked by Muttahida Qaumi Movement legislator Shiraz Waheed, who was not present in the assembly, about the number of sanctioned posts and the vacant posts in the Civil Hospital Shikarpur as on Jan 1, 2011 and Dec 31, 2013, the minister said of the six grade 19 posts of senior doctors only one doctor was posted while five posts were vacant; while of the 11 sanctioned posts of grade 18 doctors/ surgeons/ specialists only two doctors were posted and nine posts were vacant.

In an answer to a question by MQM legislator Kamran Akhtar regarding the number of sanctioned posts and teaching staff actually working at Ghulam Mohammad Mahar Medical Collage Sukkur, the minister said that of the 135 posts 85 people were posted there while 50 posts were vacant.

Answering another question asked by him regarding the staff position/ status at the Government Hospital Bagerji in Sukkur district, the minister said while the number of posts of doctors at the hospital was 32 and the number of doctors actually working there at present was seven, which showed that 25 posts were vacant.

In a written answer to a question by MQM legislator Rashid Khilji, who was not in the assembly, regarding ambulances fitted with ventilators being given to some hospitals only, the minister said that those ambulances were equipped with sophisticatetd and expensive equipment and were very costly and as only 28 such ambulances were available so six of them had been given to Karachi while others had been given to the hospitals in various district headquarters.

PML-F legislators Imtiaz Shaikh, Nand Kumar, Dr Baanbhan; MQM legislators Rana Ansar, Sabir Kaimkhani, Saleem Rajput, Aisha Khatoon, Heer Soho, Zubair Khan; PPP legislators Dr Bahadur Dahri, Khurshed Junejo, Rukhsana Shah, Mahesh Malani, PTI’s Samar Ali Khan, and others also spoke.

Dawn

By: Shahid Husain

Karachi: Officials of the Sindh health department have promised to establish a separate job quota for acid and kerosene attack survivors, like the one already present for disabled people.

Under the quota, women would be provided jobs in the health department as lady health workers.

Additional secretaries at the provincial health department, Dr Muhammad Aslam Pechuho and Dr Masood Solangi, made this promise while speaking at a seminar organised on Friday afternoon by Depilex Smileagain Foundation (DSA). It had been held to mark the success of its ‘Rehabilitation of domestic violence victims’ project.

Participants of the seminar included corporate executives, doctors and survivors of burn injuries incurred in cases of domestic violence.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Pechuho saluted philanthropists because of whom the country was making progress in strides. “The government can’t make any headway on its own,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Solangi lamented the prevalent gender bias in the society, which he said, eventually led to violence. “In a society where the legal system has failed to provide justice to even the well-to-dos, it cannot be expected that survivors of acid and kerosene burns would be treated fairly,” he said. “However, their sorrows can be minimised by providing them jobs as lady health workers.”

He said that unfortunately violence against women was a prevailing menace in Pakistan, and organisations like the DSF were needed to take the lead in addressing gender-specific crimes.

He said that empowerment of women was very important and the government was committed to address this area.

“We assure the DSF of our full support for their noble cause and we will help them whenever they need us,” assured Dr Solangi.

Narrating her ordeal, Kanwal Qayyum, told the audience that her husband had thrown acid on her because she wanted to work as an air hostess to be able to educate her children. “Suddenly one day before work my husband threw acid on me,” she recalled.

A dermatologist, Dr Jamil Bhatti, reiterated the need for psychological support for survivors of acid and kerosene burns.

Musarrat Misbah, the president of DSF, said that so far her organisation had treated 5,786 burn victims with the assistance of psychiatrics, reconstructive and plastic surgeons, dentists and cosmetologists.

She said that Pakistan ranked second last out of 136 countries in the Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum.

She said that DSF has initiated the women empowerment project to address the country’s gender gap and support young girls and women. “This year we would focus on psycho-social support of women,” she said.

Misbah expressed her gratitude to Phillip Morris Pakistan Limited for extending their help throughout the course of the project.

“We sent 10 girls to Italy for a beautification course and 10 more were married off and found jobs in banks, pharmaceutical and telecommunication companies, and the nursing sector. Two doctors were also sent abroad to receive training on multiple-burn disorders,” she said. “You don’t need a face to become a telephone operator.”

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Tag: Sindh health department

277 women suffering from Aids in Karachi, PA told

Job quota for acid attack survivors on the cards