Key HFH sections await completion

After eight months, Rawalpindi’s largest public health facility still not fully functional

RAWALPINDI:

After eight months and numerous deadlines, the ongoing Rs3 billion renovation and upgrade project at Holy Family Hospital has finally seen the OPD made functional for ENT, dental, eye, physiotherapy, hepatitis, TB, and diabetic patients.

However, the emergency, ICU, and wards remain non-functional despite the last deadline of July 10.

The contractors were given the sixth deadline of July 10 to complete the hospital's renovation. However, the work on the basement and second floor remains unfinished, with only the ground and first floors completed.

Dr Ijaz Ahmed, the Medical Superintendent of Holy Family Hospital, stated that the emergency and ICU would be partially functional next week. Vice Chancellor of Rawalpindi Medical University, Prof Dr Muhammad Umar, has convened a meeting of professors after cancelling the Sunday holiday to strategise the partial functionality of these critical units.

Dr Ijaz Ahmed mentioned that the oxygen system in the basement and second floor is still non-functional, preventing these wards from becoming operational.

The hospital also missed the June 30 deadline set by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

The C&W department issued a new deadline of July 10 to complete the basement and second floor, but the work remains incomplete.

The prolonged closure of Holy Family Hospital, the largest in the city, for the past eight months has significantly increased the patient burden on the city's other two hospitals.

The Rs3 billion project for renovating and upgrading the 1,052-bed Holy Family Hospital was initiated by the caretaker government of Punjab, leading to the hospital's complete closure for patients. Despite seven deadlines to complete the work, the hospital has not become fully functional.

During a surprise visit on May 22, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz directed the completion of the work by June 30, but this deadline was also missed. The new deadline of July 10 for completing the basement and the second floor was also unmet. Dr Ijaz Ahmed noted that if the hospital had received these two floors along with the ground and first floors by July 10, it could have been fully operational immediately, but this did not happen.