The government of Japan extended a grant of $90,514 (approximately Rs 9.2 million) to Sukkur Blood and Drug Donating Society for "The Project for the Provision of Medical Equipment for Mother and Child Health Care to Sukkur Hospital in Sukkur" under its Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) scheme.
The grant contract was signed on December 15, at the Japan Information and Culture Centre of the Consulate-General of Japan in Karachi, between Akira Ouchi, Consul General of Japan in Karachi and Muhammad Naeem, President of Sukkur Blood and Drug Donating Society.
The grant covers the cost of medical equipment such as operation tables, incubators, anesthetic instrument, etc. The Sukkur Hospital established by Sukkur Blood and Drug Donating Society has been providing health care services to the people living in Northern Sindh since 1998 and it has recently set up a new Maternal and Child Health ward to provide better mother and child health services to the people living there.
These equipment is expected to provide proper medical services to about 400 pregnant women and about 175 new-born babies every month, and will contribute to the expansion of mother and child health care services of the hospital. At the signing ceremony, Ouchi sincerely hoped that the equipment provided under the grant would greatly improve mother and child health care services in rural Sindh. Ouchi also wished that this support from the people of Japan would further strengthen friendly relationship between Japan and Pakistan.-PR