Ziauddin Hospital sets up 50-beds COVID-19 isolation ward

KARACHI: The Dr Ziauddin Hospital recently established a 50-bed COVID-19 isolation ward at its Keamari campus.

Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, inaugurated the isolation ward and appreciated the Dr Ziauddin Hospital and its efforts to establish a dedicated ward for corona patients.

“We have established a 50-bed COVID-19 isolation ward because there is no COVID-19 hospital in this area. We have proper ICU, HDUs, and isolation wards, including ventilators. We already have COVID-19 wards in both the North and Clifton campuses of the Dr Ziauddin Hospital,” said Chairman, Dr Ziauddin Hospital, Dr Asim Hussain, while talking to the media at a press conference on the inaugural ceremony of the COVID ward.



 

In response to a question about corona funding from the government, he said that we do not take any government money, nor do we want to. In fact, the government offered us to take COVID-19 patients, but we turned down the offer. The government better use its own government hospitals.

“The biggest reason for the downfall in the number of corona cases is that now people have less fear of corona, so they are avoiding corona tests. They start treating themselves at homes, which is dangerous. In addition, our district departments are not strong enough to control COVID-19. The government has failed to control the current situation," he stated.

Talking about the HEC and SHEC, he said, “We really need structural reforms in this country. For instance, we have six boards in Sindh, but there is no supervision over these boards. The federal government has not defined any role to the Sindh HEC Board and does not want to give away its power. In my view, the SHEC is not functioning up to the mark. I have sent a summary to the CM for some reforms to make it better that requires VCs to get appointed on an urgent basis, and the criteria should be followed properly.

In response to a question about online education, Dr Asim said that the government does not have the capacity to start education physically or online. Ziauddin University has its own online system. We have an online student portal, and we are taking classes as well as exams online. The maximum number of students who have sat for an exam on our online system is 1000. I do not think the government can manage this at all. I am unable to understand how they are even managing this situation, Dr Asim noted.

Dr Asim emphasized the need to change the outdated syllabus by saying, “There are two important things in any education system, curriculum, and syllabus. We can follow the national curriculum, but the syllabus should be changed according to every board's requirements. Our children are studying outdated books in almost every course, and we need to change our syllabus. My concern is only to have an updated syllabus.”

-MN Report