KARACHI: Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday heralded the newly enhanced facilities at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) as a substantial gift from the Sindh government to the residents of the province, including Karachi.
During the inaugural ceremony, Bilawal underscored the introduction of the 120-bed Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, the 110-bed Department of Neurology and Stroke Unit, and the state-of-the-art CyberKnife S7-FIM at JPMC. These facilities reinforce Sindh’s commitment to providing top-tier and free healthcare services.
Bilawal highlighted the excellence of Sindh’s healthcare institutions, including JPMC, the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), and the National Institute of Child Health (NICH), describing them as exemplars of good governance and successful public-private partnerships.
Addressing criticisms of the provincial government’s performance, Bilawal pointed to these developments as tangible proof of the Sindh government’s effectiveness post-18th Constitutional Amendment. He emphasized the establishment of one of the world’s largest heart hospitals, NICVD, which provides free treatment, and NICH’s continued delivery of free healthcare to children.
A notable feature at JPMC is the CyberKnife machine, a cutting-edge cancer treatment technology available in only a few countries. Bilawal remarked on the contrast between the high costs of similar treatments abroad and the free services provided at JPMC, a claim supported by the Royal College of Radiology’s ranking of JPMC’s cancer treatment department among the top ten globally.
He also praised the Sindh business community’s contributions to healthcare, acknowledging their role in enabling the provision of free services. He noted that JPMC’s cancer department not only serves patients from across Pakistan and 167 other cities but also attracts patients from 15 countries.
Highlighting the availability of the costly PET-CT scans needed for cancer diagnosis at no cost in Sindh, Bilawal expressed a willingness to help establish similar healthcare facilities in other provinces, with ongoing efforts to set up such hospitals in Balochistan.
The event also featured a signing ceremony between the Patients’ Aid Foundation and the Sindh Government for the Radiation Oncology Section at JPMC, attended by Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, Health Minister Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, and other dignitaries.
