An amount of Rs3.1465 billion has so far been deposited in Sindh Coronavirus Emergency Fund by different government departments and organisations as well as 948 other philanthropists.

This information was passed on by the provincial Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi to the Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah who presided over a meeting of the Coronavirus Emergency Fund (CEF) Committee at his office on Thursday.

The CEF Committee had approved a sum of one billion rupees in its last meeting for the purchase of personal protective equipment, ventilators, other lab equipment, surgical masks, sanitizers and other related medical equipment and now the procurement process is in its final stage, the meeting was informed.

The Fund Committee sanctioned an amount of Rs410 million for the Field Hospital Expo Centre Karachi while another amount of Rs300 million was approved for upgradation of ICUs of province's hospitals, purchase of lab equipment, and other required equipment.

Chief Secretary informed that overseas Pakistanis have donated Rs14.60million through the "I-Care Foundation". He directed the secretary finance to engage a top-ranking firm for the audit of the CEF accounts.

He also directed Ahsan Mangi, Chairman of the Chief Minister's Inspection Team to ensure transparent supply of medical equipment to the public sector hospitals as such arrangements are aimed to upgrade the hospitals of the province. Dr Abdul Bari of Indus Hospital, Mushtaq Chhapra and other members of committee attended the meeting.