KARACHI: The charitable Koohi Goth Women Hospital in Malir Sunday celebrated over 1000 successful treatment of newborns belonging to poor families of the area at its state-of-the-art Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in just past eight months since the inauguration of the facility, says a Press release.
A simple ceremony was held at the hospital premises to celebrate this feat of the NICU in the presence of the managers, doctors, paramedical staff, donors, and well-wishers of the charitable health facility that is dedicatedly providing treatment services to women of the less-privileged suburbs of Karachi.
Speaking on the occasion, Head of Department of the Koohi Goth Hospital’s NICU Dr Abu Talib said that establishment of the state-of-the-art facility to save the lives of the newborns was like a milestone in serving the less-privileged population of the area facing several challenges related to their health and survival.
He said that the NICU of the charitable health facility was comparable with any such unit for the newborns at any of the elite and big private or public sector hospitals in the city.
He said that this elite status of the facility was evident from the fact that the Koohi Goth Hospital had successfully managed over 1,000 cases of newborns whose very survival and normal growth had been threatened by a number of birth-related health complications.
He said that the NICU had successfully managed the multiple health complications of the newborns including Birth Anoxia, Meconium Aspiration, premature birth, low birth weight, Neonatal Pneumonia, Jaundice, Sepsis, and Down syndrome.
“Had it not been for this Neonatal facility in this far-flung area of Karachi, the very survival of all the newborns would have been in grave danger in case of referring them to the other bigger hospitals in the city,” said Dr Abu Talib.
He said that successful management of over 1,000 cases had been made possible as those newborns had remained under treatment at the NICU for a period ranging from five days to 22 days.
Dr Tipu Sultan of Zafar & Atia Foundation Charitable Trust, which manages the Koohi Goth Hospital, said that the NICU had been providing free of charge health services as otherwise availing such a facility could have cost Rs 25,000 per day per patient to the area people that is unbearable for them.
He said that once the NICU had become fully functional, the neonatal facility under the open door policy was now available to cases being referred by other hospitals and health facilities in the area including treatment to domestic birth cases being handled by the midwives.
He said that state-of-the-art equipment worth Rs 500 million had been available at the NICU of the hospital.
He said that soon the in-patient treatment facility of the charitable Koohi Goth Hospital would be increased from 200 beds to 400 beds.
He said that whatever modern health treatment facilities were being provided at the hospital spread over 16 acres of land had been donated by various concerned philanthropists.
He said that the hospital had also been conducting teaching courses for the proper qualification of the lab technicians and midwives. He said that a nursing college would also be established adjacent to the hospital.
Dr Tipu Sultan said that all the treatment, check-up, and teaching facilities were being provided at the hospital free of charge.
Eminent industrialist Abdullah Feroz said that quite soon a 24-beded oral cancer treatment facility would be launched exclusively for woman cancer patients in the area.
He urged the concerned philanthropists and businessmen to come forward to massively support such genuine charitable undertakings in the health sector for serving the less-privileged masses in the backward areas.
Inaugurated on 02 June, 2019, the NICU at the Koohi Goth Hospital is named after Late Hakim Mohammad Said as philanthropic donations worth Rs 17.5 million had been spent to build the facility. It can handle up to 15 neonatal cases at a time.