Health woes : ‘Proposal being weighed to build hospital in capital’

Tariq Fazal inaugurates three-storey hostel for female doctors at Polyclinic.

ISLAMABAD: A proposal is being weighed to build a 2,000-bed hospital or four separate hospitals with 500-bed each in Islamabad including in rural areas to cater to growing health needs of the masses.

Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said this while talking to media-persons after inaugurating a three-storey hostel for female doctors of Polyclinic here on Thursday.

The 36-bed rooms hostel has been completed at a cost of Rs60 million.

The minister said that work on the proposed hospital or four separate hospitals will be started once the prime minister gives a nod of affirmation as modalities of the project were being finalised.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Sharif are taking a keen interest in developing Islamabad a model city and health reforms are on their high agenda on the pattern of the education reform programme in Islamabad,” he said.

The minister said that work on new emergencies at Polyclinic and the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) would be completed soon and condition of wards and out-patient departments of both the hospitals would be equipped with additional facilities.

“Until facilities at basic health units (BHUs) are improved, pressure on major hospitals will persist,” he said adding that all BHUs and rural health units will be upgraded to carry out minor surgeries to lessen pressure on tertiary care hospitals.

The minister also visited the emergency and various units of the hospital and directed the management to ensure state-of-the-art medical facilities for patients.

Chaudhry said that work on a new 25-bed emergency at the Pims at a cost of Rs15 million was under way while old emergencies of Pims and Polyclinic and OPDs were also being upgraded. He said after introducing laws by Establishment Division, a permanent Executive Director could

Answering a question, Chaudhry admitted that the Capital Administration Authority’s directorate of enforcement did not have the capacity to stop encroachments and around 50,000 kanal of its land was still in possession of encroachers.

He said that the government has decided to set up a special force comprising 400 personnel to take action against encroachers. Answering a question, he said that local body representatives would be given powers under an Act introduced by the parliament and a committee has been formed for transferring powers.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th,  2016.