The Government of Sindh and the Aga Khan University will form a working group to cater to public health needs in the province. This was mutually agreed on in a meeting between the Sindh Minister of Health and Population Welfare Dr Azra Pechuho and AKU President Sulaiman Shahabuddin.
“The working group will strengthen the existing partnership between the Sindh Government and AKU on education, research and public health initiatives,” said President Shahabuddin. “Free-of-cost training in the management and critical care of COVID-19 patients for healthcare professionals in the public sector, supporting the Sindh Government in managing typhoid and HIV outbreaks, and vaccination drives throughout the province are recent examples of the partners’ commitment to improving healthcare for all.”
Members of the working group from the Sindh Government will include Dr Juman Bahoto, Director General Health Services; Dr Irshad Memon, Project Director, EPI, Sindh; Dr Abdul Jabbar, Additional Director Development; and Dr Jamal Raza, paediatrician and former Executive Director, Sindh Institute of Child Health and Neonatology. AKU will be represented by Dr Adil Haider, Dean, Medical College; Dr Rozina Karmaliani, Dean, School of Nursing and Midwifery; Dr Shahid Shafi, CEO, Aga Khan University Hospital; and Shagufta Hassan, CEO, Outreach Health Network.
Dr Pechuho spoke of how the Government of Sindh needs partners like AKU to tackle public health problems in the province. She lauded the University’s efforts on various fronts, especially the launch of the typhoid conjugate vaccine in Sindh, which led to Pakistan being the first country in the world to introduce this vaccine in its routine immunisation programme.
Briefing the Minister on the University's contributions and social impact, President Shahabuddin mentioned that AKU is a not-for-profit institution, with all revenues generated by the University or the Aga Khan University Hospital invested back in education and research, and in helping patients and improving healthcare. “AKU’s patient welfare and zakat programmes spent Rs 3.6 billion on providing care to nearly 1 million poor and needy patients in the last year alone.”
It was President Shahabuddin’s first visit to the Sindh Secretariat after taking office as AKU’s president. He is the third president since AKU’s founding as the first private university in Pakistan in 1983.
