Extension Of The Aga Khan University Hospital In Karachi

The health sector in Pakistan is ranked 146th out of 187 countries in terms of human development indicators. The limited resources allocated by the State have resulted in saturation of public health facilities, poor quality of care and a lack of qualified health personnel. In Karachi, the country's largest city (21 million inhabitants), the capacity shortage, already quite significant, is likely to worsen further with an annual 5% population growth. In this context of public sector deficiency, private actors (both for-profit and non-profit) have become the backbone of the health system and account for 77% of the healthcare supply in terms of the number of patients. Among these private actors, the Aga Khan Hospital and Medical College Foundation (AKHMCF) receives nearly 1.2 million patients a year and provides a full range of medical services of the highest international standards and helps enhance access to health care for disadvantaged patients, while providing specialised training to health experts.

The project, initiated in 2009 and expected to be completed in 2017, consists of the extension of the AKHMCF University Hospital in Karachi:

• Opening of a vast ambulatory care centre
• Increasing the hospitalisation capacity by 222 additional beds (distributed between the private care wing, general hospital beds and intensive care units, particularly neonatal and paediatric units)
• Establishing an innovation centre in medical education.

In addition to improving health care services, the focus is on the affordability of health services through a financial support programme for disadvantaged patients. Furthermore, the university hospital expansion programme requires US $ 16 million for investments in infrastructure and equipment related to energy efficiency, securing power supply and the incineration of biomedical waste, to which AFD funding will be allocated.

• Positive effects on public health: Increase in hospital capacity in a context of the saturation of health facilities, improvement in financial accessibility to quality care through the PWP program, which will pay for part of the treatment costs for disadvantaged patients, improvement of the country's training capacity by building a medical education innovation centre.
• Significant reduction in environmental impact due to the AKHMCF's expansion thanks to AFD's contribution, specifically targeted at energy efficiency and waste incineration: avoidance of 26,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.