Country needs 60,000 nurses, says Wasim
KARACHI – City Mayor Wasim Akhtar said on Saturday the country needed 60,000 nurses to bring improvement in health sector because presently there was only one nurse for every 1,069 people.
“KMC has taken many measures to solve the problems facing the nursing staff in hospitals and for this letters were written to the government of Sindh so their promotion, allowances and other issues can be addressed” he said.
Akhtar said that on taking charge of KMC “we got different departments in very bad condition, specially the medical and health department was in deteriorating condition and almost inactive”. “We tried to bring as much improvement in this sector as we could and make the hospitals operational with the available resources. My doors are open for everyone and we all will solve such problems mutually,” the mayor said.
He expressed these views while speaking as chief guest at the First Metropolitan Nursing Awards Ceremony held at a local hotel. KMC in coordination with the Pakistan Nurses Forum organised the ceremony.
The program was also attended by Municipal Commissioner Dr Saif-ur-Rehman, Chairperson of Medical Committee Naheed Fatima, Director for Health and Medical Services Dr Beerbal, Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Nurses Forum Saleem Michael, Nadeem Sheikh Advocate, Medical Superintendent of Civil Hospital Dr Taufiq Ahmed, Nuzhat Shireen, Director for Nursing Habibullah, Siddiqa Nizami, Khair-un-Nisa and others.
During this ceremony performance awards were given to the nursing staff of KMC, DMCs and other hospitals of Karachi.
The mayor also cut a cake on this occasion and nursing staff presented a tableau to give the message in an impressive way about the services rendered by nurses to patients. The mayor said nursing is considered basic part of healthcare in any country.
In Pakistan, Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan put the foundation of nursing profession in 1949. Though this profession received a lot of respect and dignity all over the world, nurses were unfortunately not getting their due status and respect in our country. He said availability of only a nurse for 1069 people in Pakistan is no doubt a serious issue and should be getting attention so that number of nurses could increase in the country.
He said he had written letters to the Sindh Government for solving problems facing nursing staff in KMC hospitals. First Nursing Awards were being given to the staff performing duties at 13 major KMC hospitals and medical institutions under DMCs along with other hospitals of the city. “Next year we have this plan to include all nursing staff of Karachi for nomination of this award,” he said.
The mayor said various plans were being executed to uplift the city’s infrastructure and such works would provide considerable benefits to the citizens of Karachi. He said “we are continuously working to provide maximum municipal services to the people of Karachi. People have given us their votes so that their problems are solved and we are working on different projects to achieve this target.”
He said besides carrying out development works their monitoring was also ensured so that these projects could prove beneficial for the people of Karachi.
On the occasion, Chairman of Pakistan Nurses Forum Salim Michael thanked Mayor of Karachi for supporting the nursing staff in Karachi and making sure that first metropolitan awards be introduced for nurses so they could perform their services in an even better way in our hospitals.
He said that International Nurses Day is an international day celebrated around the world on 12 May of each year to mark contributions nurses make to society. Founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, was born on this day who setup great example of service to ailing humanity by her exemplary work.
