Crucial health project falls victim to politics

Though the prime minister inaugurated the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Kidney Transplant (RIUT) after almost 12 years of delay, work on the 200-bed Mother and Child Hospital in Rawalpindi has been lingering on for the last 10 years as it has fallen victim to politics.

The RIUT, a project launched by Shehbaz Sharif when he was the chief minister of Punjab, saw the light of day after 12 years when he became the prime minister and released funds for its completion.

In contrast, the Mother and Child Hospital, a project launched by former interior minister Sheikh Rashid, could not be made functional in the last 19 years despite his (Rashid)’s untiring efforts to complete the project when he was in power and holding a key portfolio during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government.

The foundation stone for the 200-bed Rawalpindi Mother and Child Hospital was laid in 2005 by former prime minister Shaukat Aziz and his cabinet member Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. The project was supposed to be completed within one-and-a-half years at a cost of Rs2 billion but due to the inordinate delay, the cost of the project has jumped from Rs 2 billion to Rs9 billion.

Even though 90 per cent of work on the Mother and Child Hospital has been completed, the most crucial health project could not be made functional due to the paucity of funds and change of hands at the centre and in Punjab.

Work on the hospital was stopped until 2018 due to the change of government in 2008.

Former prime minister Imran Khan, however, visited the under-construction hospital after winning the election and gave directions to speed up work on the project. However, the work on the hospital could not be finished during his government's four years tenure and despite the allocation of funds.

Tenders had been issued for the purchase of equipment and machinery for the hospital, but with the change of the PTI government, 10 per cent of work could not be completed on the crucial project.

It should be noted that expecting mothers have to face a lot of problems in other government hospitals of Rawalpindi due to the rush of patients and their insufficient capacity to handle patients' load in gynaecology wards.

The three major hospitals in Rawalpindi have little or no special facilities specifically for treating expecting mothers and newborns. It has become inevitable for Rawalpindi to have a separate specialized hospital for women and children.

According to health professionals, the Rawalpindi Mother and Child Hospital should be made functional after the RIUT so that women and children may have access to excellent medical services.

Former MNA Sheikh Rashid Shafiq said that the hospital was the dire need of the city because beds were not available for women and children in other hospitals of the city. He said that 90 per cent of the work on the project has been completed and it could be made functional by allocating funds for the 10 per cent remaining work.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Muhammad Hanif Abbasi said that the Mother and Child Hospital and Nullah Leh Expressway project could not be completed due to the lack of interest of those who had laid their foundation. “Now, I will talk to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to hand me over the mother-child hospital project so that it could be completed and made functional. If the prime minister hands me over the project, I will complete and make it functional so that women and newborns could get the best health facilities,” he said.

Officials said that a large patient load from all other hospitals can be transferred to it once it was made operational.

The officials said that 90 per cent of work on the hospital’s structure including the OPD, wards, indoor, labor room, operation theater, emergency, laboratory, blood bank, staff offices, nursing hostel, parking area, lawn and doctors' hostel has been completed.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2023.