Health woes: ‘Facilities in capital below standard’

Minister says new hospitals needed to be built

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) State Minister Tariq Fazl Chaudhary on Tuesday admitted before a parliamentary panel that the health facilities in Islamabad were inadequate and below the required standard.

The minister also informed the Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat that new hospitals needed to be built in the federal capital.

Fazal told the committee members that most of the hospitals were overburdened.

Fazal said that to reduce pressure from major hospitals, primary and secondary healthcare facilities needed to be made fully operational.

He informed that the Polyclinic Hospital expansion was on the cards and new services were being launched at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU), and the Pims.

National Assembly Member Asad Umar, who was chairing the meeting, pointed out the poor standard of hygiene and cleanliness at health facilities.

The SZABMU Vice-Chancellor, Dr Javed Akram informed the committee members that 30 to 50 new thalassaemia cases were being registered in Pakistan annually.

Associate Professor of Radiology at Pims Dr Ayesha Isani told the parliamentarians that the first breast cancer centre would be completed by December 2016.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th,  2016.