[vc_row el_class=”about-page”][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”about-txt”] A government establishment, the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), officially became JPMC in 1963. Built over 148 acres, JPMC not only caters to the population of Karachi but thousands of patients who pour in each year from Interior Sindh, Balochistan and the whole of Pakistan in search of quality medical treatment.
JPMC is a tertiary care facility with over 31 departments and 1600 beds, and the hospital is also affiliated with the 550 bedded National Institute of Child Health and National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases. JPMC receives an influx of over one million patients a year, admitting 60,000 of them, with 30,000 surgeries and 15,000 deliveries, all free of charge. Its Accident and Emergency ward also functions as the busiest in Karachi and serves approximately 1200 patients a day.
JPMC started off as the Medical Corps Hospital in 1930, serving military personnel exclusively. Upon the creation of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah allowed his name to be used for the hospital, provided that it would be opened to the public. The hospital then came to be known as Jinnah Central Hospital (JCH) and was one of the initial steps towards building the new nation.
In 1959, JCH collaborated with Indiana University to develop a highly specialized postgraduate medical studies program, making it the primary center offering high-quality medical education. It then continued to operate under the supervision of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan. JCH comprised of multiple units including the Children’s Hospital, Heart Clinic, Cancer Institute, Neuropsychiatry Unit, B.M.S.I and Postgraduate College of Nursing. In 1963, all these units were integrated into one, and the institution adopted the name of JPMC. In 1972, the Sindh Medical College was also combined with this network of institutions.
Today, JPMC not only treats numerous patients free of cost, but also prides itself on being a higher medical education institution that trains medical graduates, nurses and technicians, and undertakes meaningful research in clinical and basic medical sciences.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]