• Unit is named after Dr. Shereen Zulfiqar Bhutta who was a lifelong advocate and practitioner of providing health services to women.
• She said that Benazir Bhutto was the first leader who prioritised women’s health needs by establishing lady health workers programme
• Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta said unit will be the first center of excellence for women’s health and research in all of Pakistan

KARACHI: Minister for Health and Population Welfare, Sindh, Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho inaugurated a new obstetric and gynecological unit at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi.

The unit is named after Dr. Shereen Zulfiqar Bhutta who was a lifelong advocate and practitioner of providing health services to women. The unit will be providing services, facilities and counselling to ‘poor, pregnant and powerless’ women, free of cost.

Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho spoke at the inauguration and said that it is high time we set up a centre of excellence and research here in honour of Dr. Shereen Bhutta as she had spent her life in service of humanity. She added that women leaders are needed as they are the ones who have the vulnerable communities needs at heart.

She said that Benazir Bhutto was the first leader who prioritised women’s health needs by establishing lady health workers and even women police officers. Women patients and their reproductive needs must be catered to with compassion and with the utmost respect and dignity. Their safety and health must be the priority.

The Health department and the Sindh Government will be in full support of this unit and said that she was impressed with all the dedicated young doctors that have been trained under the leadership of JPMC. She also said that USAID helped set up this unit as well.

Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta said this unit will be the first center of excellence for women’s health and research in all of Pakistan, in the public sector. He also said that the priority of this unit should be to train others who can then go to underserved areas and provide services and expertise to those communities who do not have access to this type of healthcare or knowledge.

Dr. Amjad Memon, VC of JSMU said that they will be providing some of the faculty and staff members of this unit in order to extend their support and solidarity with the cause of women’s.

[embedpost slug=”who-hands-over-medicines-to-health-minister-sindh-azra-pechuho”]

The inauguration was attended by Secretary Health, Zulfiqar Shah, and the unit will be under the management of renown gynecologist Dr. Nighat Shah, who was previously working at Aga Khan University Hospital.