South City Hospital Limited is a privately-owned

Privately-owned

Privately owned may refer to:*Property , property not owned by the government*Private company, a company owned by private investors...

 facility that covers a wide spectrum of specialties

Specialty (medicine)

A specialty in medicine is a branch of medical science. After completing medical school, physicians or surgeons usually further their medical education in a specific specialty of medicine by completing a multiple year residency to become a medical specialist.-History of medical specialization:To...

, with an aim to provide top grade medical care in a comfortable and luxurious environment.

In 2004, the owners of a private hospital

Private hospital

A private hospital is a hospital owned by a profit company or a non-profit organisation and privately funded through payment for medical services by patients themselves, by insurers, or by foreign embassies. This practice is very common in the United States and Australia...

 in an upscale locality of Karachi

Karachi

Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

, i.e. Clifton

Clifton, Karachi

Clifton is one of the neighbourhoods of Saddar Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.-Demographics:There are several ethnic groups in Clifton including Pakhtuns, Muhajirs, Sindhis, Punjabis, Kashmiris, Seraikis, Balochs, Memons, Tanolis, etc. Over 99% of the population is Muslim...

, announced its demolition

Demolition

Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....

 to make way for a shopping centre and hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

 complex. The destruction of a functional hospital

Hospital

A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

 created a vacuum that motivated a group of Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

’s top medical professionals to form a consortium

Consortium

A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....

 and acquire an existing hospital in Clifton.

In addition to the original consortium, SCH has since attracted some of Pakistan’s top doctor

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

s and surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

s. It is a top grade facility that rivals the finest hospitals in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Construction for the new SCH facility started in March 2005 and phase 1 became operational in December 2006 whereas phase 2 was recently completed in March 2008. The facility covers an area of 3,250 square yards and has a total capacity of 124 beds. It houses a pharmacy

Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...

, laboratory

Laboratory

A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...

, fully equipped radiology

Radiology

Radiology is a medical specialty that employs the use of imaging to both diagnose and treat disease visualized within the human body. Radiologists use an array of imaging technologies to diagnose or treat diseases...

 unit, 6 state of the art operating theatre

Operating theatre

An operating theater was a non-sterile, tiered theater or amphitheater in which students and other spectators could watch surgeons perform surgery...

s, labor and delivery

Childbirth

Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...

 suites and a cardiac unit

Cardiology

Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart . The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology...

.