RIC extension put on hold until July

Sources say Punjab govt will allocate funds for the project in next financial year

RAWALPINDI: A project to extend the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) has been put on hold, with the Punjab government hinting at shifting the project to the annual development programme for the next fiscal year, officials said on Tuesday.

The 272-bed RIC has to balance a tremendous load of patients, including many who come from adjoining districts and even far off regions such as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) for treatment of cardiovascular ailments, they said.

The Punjab government had approved the project before the beginning of the current fiscal year however, officials told The Express Tribune that the government has now decided to allocate funds for the extension project in the next financial year.

Orders for the preparation of the revised project concept-I (PC-I) have also been issued.

Under the extension project worth Rs7.5 billion, a new seven-storey building equipped with 470 beds will be built at the RIC premises. With the expansion of the centre, the total number of beds available in the hospital will swell to 742. The structure will be built where the RIC currently has a sizeable car park.

Meanwhile, the provincial government had directed the related authorities to prepare a revised PC-I for the project and to recruit medical and paramedical staff to overcome the shortage of healthcare providers faced by the people.

RIC is only equipped with 24 recovery beds. Of these, 12 each are dedicated to the two recovery phases, where patients are shifted immediately after their surgeries.

However, this number is expected to rise significantly after the completion of the expansion project.

The waiting area on the first floor of the existing building has been reduced to accommodate some beds, however, they are still proving to be inadequate to cater needs of hundreds of patients visiting RIC every day.

RIC Chief Executive Prof Dr Azhar Mahmood Kayani and a team of 50 specialist doctors started to provide treatment to the patients round-the-clock after the centre’s establishment in October 2012.

The healthcare facility is fully equipped with state-of-the-art machinery and provides provide free treatment in emergency and to poor patients.

The RIC houses a separate department for children suffering from cardiac disorders. The facility is an alternative for parents, who have to take their children to India for cardiac surgeries.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2020.