Moalims

KARACHI: Asia’s biggest slum area, Orangi, needs a general university and a medical college to give better education and health facilities to its millions of residents.

This thickly populated locality continues to go neglected because of two factors: it is a poor locality and its elected representatives have failed to raise the issues of their voters in assemblies. This area with more than four million population is ethnically and culturally diversified and houses people speaking all languages of Pakistan. Situated near Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate (SITE) it houses mostly blue-collar workers, besides there are hundreds of thousands of small cottage industries in this area.

In past the Sindh government has announced to upgrade Qatar Hospital of Orangi to a teaching hospital level, but despite passage of more than a decade a medical college is yet to be established in this locality. Orangi also needs a big general university in the government sector, but it needs its elected representatives to find their lost voices in the assemblies. Poor citizens of Orangi have long been demanding more NADRA centres in this thickly populated area, but the Interior Ministry and NADRA bosses seem unmoved, though NADRA could earn millions by opening at least four new centres here as a large number of Orangiites do not possess valid computerized national identity cards (CNICs).

Public transport is another issue of Orangi that should be addressed on war footing. This area needs at least 500 wide-bodied CNG buses to cater to its residents needs. The long-awaited revival of Karachi Circular Railway and its extension up to Baldia-Orangi corridors could also greatly help the poor citizens of this area. Presently, students of this area visit different colleges and universities of the city to get higher education and opening a general university here or at least upgrading a couple of government colleges as post-graduate campuses of Karachi University could do. The government should also open a separate medical college at the Qatar Hospital or open a campus of Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) here to provide Orangi citizens better healthcare and medical education facilities.

News Reference