Expansion plans: PIMS seeks Rs25b from govt

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) has sought Rs25 billion from the government for expanding the hospital.

“On the instructions of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, we have prepared a PC-I of the expansion plan and have submitted it to the ministry of planning, development and reforms,” revealed Dr Javed Akram, the vice chancellor of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto University (SZABMU) and executive director of Pims.

He said this during a briefing to the media and officials of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Islamabad on Friday.

Giving details of the PC-I, Dr Akram explained that the trauma centre, mortuary, thalassemia centre and new paediatric specialities would be upgraded and built under the expansion programme.

Cooperation with Japan

Giving details of the cooperation with Japan over the years, Dr Akram said that Japan had been assisting the hospital shortly after its establishment, helping to construct the Children’s Hospital, the Maternal and Child Health Care Centre and Colleges of Nursing and Medical Technologies. So far, Japan had provided over $60 million.

Responding to a question about Japanese assistance to Pims, he said it consisted of 10 grant-aid projects amounting to ¥10.8 billion, along with technical cooperation.

About the Children’s Hospital, Japan provided grants for construction of building in the 1980s, he added.

In order to alleviate neo-natal mortality rate, a 200-bed in-patient department and OPD that could accommodate maximum 2,000 patients per day, were constructed at a cost of ¥4.3 billion.

Through technical cooperation, capacity building of staffs on paediatric services was improved. In this regard, 81 Japanese experts visited Pims while 30 staffers of the hospital went to Japan for training.

Since the number of operations and patients visiting the hospital had surged in recent years, he said that the Japanese government was providing assistance to build new operation theatre, renovate the old operation theatre and provide medical equipment worth ¥600 million and ¥650 million respectively.

Under non-project grant for industrial products, the SZABMU VC said that forklifts were provided to the hospital at a cost of ¥110 million.

Moreover, medical equipment such as radiography and operation table worth a further ¥110 million, were also provided.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2016.