Only 5% Of Sindh’s JIMS Hospital Services Operationalised 4 Years After Inauguration

Only 5% Of Sindh’s JIMS Hospital Services Operationalised 4 Years After Inauguration
Sindh’s Health Department has been ignoring Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences (JIMS) – a hospital established after a whopping donation of $10 million by USAID. Even four years after its formal inauguration, only 5% of the hospital’s services are operational.

USAID funded the construction of 133-bed fully equipped hospital. The project was commenced in August 2012 but the construction was completed in November 2014. The health facility was designed to provide outpatient treatment, emergency, and diagnostics facilities as well as specialized services in its Mother and Childhood Center, Intensive Care Units, and surgical facilities.

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The hospital is currently facing many problems, including shortage of staff and substandard medicines being supplied by the health department. Since JIMS’s electrical system is powered by solar energy, no backup electricity supplier is installed yet that is disrupting the service delivery of the health facility. Moreover, only 5% of the hospital services are operationalised.

The Board of Directors has been nominated but the official meetings are rarely convened to discuss the issues and remedies to enhance the productivity of the hospital.

In 2018, Sindh Health Minister Azra Fazal Pechuho visited JIMS, during while she noted that only a handful of patients were admitted in the hospital. On the occasion, she said: “The hospital seems to be non-functional”. The administration also complained to her about the spurious/substandard medicines being supplied to the hospital for ‘free-of-cost’ delivery to patients. But to date, no tangible action has been taken to address the issues being faced by the administration of JIMS.

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