KARACHI: The Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC), an autonomous regulatory authority to ensure quality of healthcare in Sindh, was launched on Thursday Professor Dr S Tipu Sultan is the chairman while Justice (r) Abdul Rahman Faruq Pirzada, Professor Dr Abdul Sattar Memon, Dr Hussain Bux Memon, Dr Iqbal Memon, Dr Islamuddin Qureshi, Nawaz Ali Leghari, Professor Dr Muhammad Saeed Quraishy and Zahid Bashir are included among commissioners. In the first phase, the commission will initiate registration of all healthcare facilities in Karachi’s South district. The Karachi South district has approximately 2,000 healthcare units, including tertiary care hospitals. The district has the highest number of healthcare facilities in the province. In the second phase, the commission will start functioning at divisional headquarters. Speaking on the occasion, Professor Tipu Sultan, the chairperson of the commission, highlighted the importance of SHC and its benefits for patients, doctors and public and private hospitals. He highlighted the importance of the commission and gave background that the corporate body would help improve quality of healthcare service delivery in Sindh. He also encouraged health service providers and hospitals to register with commission as per their mandate. In his speech, Sindh Healthcare Commission Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Minhaj Qidwai said that the aim behind setting up the healthcare commission was to make provision for the improvement, access, equity, and quality of healthcare services, to ban quackery in all its forms and manifestations and to provide ancillary matters. Speakers said that with the setting up of the healthcare commission, all medical and dental colleges, laboratories, blood banks and other health services providing organisations of the province will have to register with the commission. Other task of the commission will be to regulate pharmacies across the province. The Sindh Healthcare Commission Bill was passed by the provincial assembly in February 2014. The Sindh Healthcare Commission Act, 2013 will apply to healthcare establishments (HCEs’), public or private hospitals, non-profit organisations, charitable hospitals, trust hospitals, semi government and autonomous healthcare organisations. Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had said that he was working day and night for provision of health services to the poor people of the province. “Our EPI and other vertical programmes have shown considerable progress and we are working to improve them further,” he had said while talking to the media after launching European Union-assisted `Programme for Improved Nutrition in Sindh’ at a local hotel on Tuesday. Murad Ali Shah had said that his government had launched a programme to upgrade 300 basic health units in the province. Published in Daily Times, February 2nd 2018.