KARACHI: Sindh Health Minister Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho has addressed the chronic shortage of nurses in the province during a comprehensive press briefing, attributing their emigration primarily to socioeconomic factors. Highlighting ongoing healthcare reforms, the minister outlined strategic partnerships with the Asian Development Bank, new nursing colleges with unified admission policies, and a long-term target to scale the number of graduating nurses to 46,000. Additionally, major institutional expansions and specialized medical upgrades—including new pilot nursing centers, recruitment authorizations for major hospitals, and advanced vascular surgery facilities at the Trauma Center—were unveiled to strengthen Sindh’s public healthcare infrastructure.
Addressing the core issues, Dr. Pechuho acknowledged that nurses predominantly hail from low-income households, which drives them to seek overseas employment amid a global shortage of nursing professionals. To counter this, the province is actively collaborating with the Asian Development Bank to increase the local workforce, setting an ambitious target to expand the pool of qualified nurses to 46,000. Alongside capacity building, educational reforms are underway through the introduction of a joint admission policy for nursing colleges to elevate educational and training standards across the board. Furthermore, institutional expansion efforts include establishing two pilot nursing centers, authorizing fresh recruitments at Jinnah Hospital and NICVD, expanding SIUT, and launching specialized vascular surgery at the Trauma Center.
