Sindh seeks WB help to produce medical oxygen

KARACHI: The Sindh government has sought assistance from the World Bank to establish a plant to indigenously produce medical oxygen for treating coronavirus patients at healthcare facilities in the province.

The provincial government also needs assistance from the World Bank to procure emergency medical equipment required in the province for treatment of the coronavirus patients.

The request to this effect was made by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah as he held talks with a delegation from WB led by its Country Director for Pakistan Najy Benhassine. The Sindh CM said on the occasion that the pandemic had emerged as a serious issue and a strong healthcare system was required to deal with this emergency.

He said that after the coronavirus outbreak, the Sindh government on an emergency basis had established a hospital and research centre in Karachi dedicated to deal with the cases of infectious diseases.

He said the Sindh government had decided to establish such facilities in every division in the province.

The CM mentioned there was a dire need to establish a plant to indigenously generate medical oxygen for its uninterrupted supply to the hospitals in the province.

He said the oxygen plant was required as hospitals in Sindh constantly needed such emergency supplies as they had been dealing with cases related to different deadly variants of coronavirus.

The CM informed the delegation that public sector hospitals in Sindh had 668 ventilators as his government had decided to purchase at least 500 more ventilators to facilitate the health care facilities where coronavirus patients were being treated.

The CM said Sindh saved around $11 million while executing different World Bank-assisted projects. He said his government wanted that the same amount be reappropriated for establishing the oxygen plant and purchasing other emergency medical equipment.