The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation-run Leprosy Hospital Manghopir continues to face shortage of medicines, as the KMC administration has failed to provide the same to the hospital. An administrative official of Leprosy Hospital Manghopir said that there was an acute shortage of medicines at the hospital, as KMC administration was not supplying the required medicines to the facility for the last several years.
The Leprosy Hospital is sole and first hospital its kind where the best facilities are available for diagnosis and treatment of Leprosy, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, eye and skin diseases under one roof. However, due to the continuing medicine crisis, the number of OPD patients has decreased in this hospital considerably, while supply of food to the admitted patients has also been stopped owing to financial crisis for last one year.
The official said that over 5,000 leprosy patients have been registered in the centre so far, out of them 200 are under treatment in the hospital. He said hospital offers services of TB, leprosy, hepatitis, eye, immunisation and treatment of other diseases. He added that despite all these problems the hospital administration was striving hard to provide treatment facilities to the patients from its limited resources. Senior Director Medical & Health Services KMC Dr Salma Kausar Ali said that due to shortage of funds the administration was unable to supply medicines to the hospital. She said that up-gradation of hospital, supply of food and provision of drugs was not possible due to lack of funds.