Polyclinic extension project on standstill for another year

Five-acre land in Sector G-11 allocated after stay order on previous property

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital extension project has been delayed by another year as work could not be completed during 2020. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had allocated Rs100 million for the expansion of the healthcare facility in 2016-2017’s budget, learnt The Express Tribune on Sunday.

While the deadline for the project was set for end of 2017, the former government officials failed to release the designated funds. In the fiscal year 2017-2018, the government again earmarked Rs100 million for the project that was never released.

Later, however, the project was removed from under the ambit of the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) by the outgoing government in 2018 while the original approval for the project was secured 13 years ago in 2008.

The Argentinian government approved the construction of the hospital’s new block in the Argentina Park located at adjacent to the hospital. However, the Islamabad High Court had issued stay order against the construction over petitions filed by citizens.

Once the stay order was nullified, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) transferred about 2.54 acres of land to the hospital management for Rs40.48 million. This space was used as a parking lot after installing grills around the plot.

However, after building a boundary wall around the area, the matter was referred to the court yet again and its extension was barred by another stay order.

As per the approved Project Concept (PC) II, the extension project included the construction of an earthquake-proof seven-storey building. About Rs1.19 billion were to be spent on the building itself, Rs110 million on developing infrastructure and Rs740.62 million on electrical and mechanical purposes.

The extension would have doubled the bed space in the hospital from 545 to 1,100. It would also add up space to accommodate critical facilities such as magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) and computerised tomography (CT) scan machines. Moreover, phase-I of the extension project included the construction of a new block on the 2.54 acres of acquired land where the healthcare facility was going to be shifted.

The new section is said to incorporate an information management system, critical care services, clinical departments, diagnostic facilities, specialised tertiary care and fully computerised investigation systems in addition to neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, plastic surgery, magnetic resonance imagery (MRI), and a modern operation theatre.

However, a five-acre land in Sector G-11 has now been allocated for the new PCH building where a 200-bed hospital would be built although the incumbent government has neither made any announcement to kick off development work nor allocated funds for it in the fiscal budget of 2020-2021.

Highlight: The extension would have doubled the bed space in the hospital from 545 to 1,100

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2021.