Like a botched surgery, repairs at the city’s major public healthcare facility have gone awry, creating problems for patients, their attendants and the hospital staff.
The repairs and rehabilitation of the Rawalpindi District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital have slowed down for the last seven months while the health department has extended the completion date by 14 months.
The government has plans to complete the project to upgrade the public healthcare facility by June 2022, sources told The Express Tribune.
Meanwhile, the DHQ is also lacking a proper parking space owing to which the visitors face extreme difficulties. The Punjab government had allocated some Rs80 million in the budget 2017-18 for revamping of Rawalpindi DHQ Hospital. Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid had inaugurated the development scheme on September 10, 2020.
When the construction work started, the outpatient department (OPD) counter was closed and shifted under the overhead water tank. The corridors in the building were also blocked while the power supply lights on the ground and first floor of the block was disconnected. The building gives an eerie look owing to dark and dingy corridors and lack of cleanliness.
The development work has not progressed well due to which the patients and their attendants go through difficulties every day.
Read more: Hospital or dispensary?
Meanwhile, the movement of vehicles remains in an abysmal condition as the parking space on the premises has been occupied by construction material and the healthcare facility has the same entry and exit point. Owing to parking issues, quarrels between the citizens and DHQ’s security staff have become a routine.
In this regard, DHQ Spokesperson Dr Irfan Khilji told The Express Tribune on contact that the government had extended the development work until June 2022.
He admitted that the provision of healthcare facilities was getting affected by incomplete upgradation work. He, however, added that the Punjab health department was "exclusively looking into the matter".
Published in The Express Tribune, March 19th, 2021.
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