SZABMU: EPI takes back seat to new medical varsity
The university expected to be inaugurated on December 24.
ISLAMABAD:
The Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) will become homeless, thanks to a federal government decision to give away a major chunk of its office building.
Five out of six blocks of the EPI building at the National Institute of Health (NIH) will be used temporarily to house the recently announced Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU), according to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Executive Director.
However the warehouse storing vaccines worth Rs13 billion will remain under EPI control.
Pims ED Riaz Warraich told The Express Tribune that the inauguration of the university at the EPI building is expected on December 24 this year.
He said at present, EPI officials are working in one of the blocks, which will also be handed over to Pims once they find a suitable place to move. The university will be shifted from the EPI building when a permanent building is built and ready for use, he said.
The two-storey six-block compound is spread over five acres and has offices for about 80 technical staff members of the EPI. The decision to hand the building over to SZABMU was taken by an eight-member steering committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi.
EPI officials, asking not to named, said the programme was not consulted for the decision. The EPI building is also used for various purposes such as for conducting seminars, meeting, and conferences, said an official.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2012.
The Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) will become homeless, thanks to a federal government decision to give away a major chunk of its office building.
Five out of six blocks of the EPI building at the National Institute of Health (NIH) will be used temporarily to house the recently announced Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU), according to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Executive Director.
However the warehouse storing vaccines worth Rs13 billion will remain under EPI control.
Pims ED Riaz Warraich told The Express Tribune that the inauguration of the university at the EPI building is expected on December 24 this year.
He said at present, EPI officials are working in one of the blocks, which will also be handed over to Pims once they find a suitable place to move. The university will be shifted from the EPI building when a permanent building is built and ready for use, he said.
The two-storey six-block compound is spread over five acres and has offices for about 80 technical staff members of the EPI. The decision to hand the building over to SZABMU was taken by an eight-member steering committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi.
EPI officials, asking not to named, said the programme was not consulted for the decision. The EPI building is also used for various purposes such as for conducting seminars, meeting, and conferences, said an official.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2012.