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The clock tower is a unique sight, and shows accurate Pakistan Standard Time. It is one of the rare old clock towers in Karachi that is in mint condition. Well, it has to look unblemished, for the tower is part of a building that is no ordinary work of construction. In the days gone by it was known as the Jaffer Fuddoo Dispensary. Today it serves as the administrative or office block of the Kutiyana Memon Hospital (KMH).

Although the modern looking, multi-storey KMH has enveloped the beautiful yesteryear dispensary, the latter has not lost its glory. The stone used in its making is clean and solid; the entrance arched; the windows beautiful. Nowadays, it is pretty hard to acknowledge the architectural attributes of the Jaffer Fuddoo Dispensary as a separate piece because the size of the hospital built around it (behind it, to be exact) is so extensive that your attention invariably loses its focus and you get distracted. There is a constant buzz in the hospital caused by patients and their attendants, which is understandable. So you seldom get time to fondly look at the Jaffer Fuddoo Dispensary for a longish period. Still, what a crackerjack of a sight!

CEO and administrator of the KMH, Zaheeruddin says, “The Jaffer Fuddoo Dispensary was built in 1904-05 by a Muslim philanthropist. As you can see, it's nice, sturdy stonework. In 1988-89 KMC leased it to us to build a hospital for the Kutiyana Memon community and to widen the scope of its services.

[Source: Karachi Legacies of Empires by Peerzada Salman | Coordinates: Khalid Hanif]

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