Laissez-faire attitude: Senators admonish govt for ignoring hospitals’ expansion, construction

Panel discusses expansion of PIMS, Polyclinic.

ISLAMABAD:

A senate panel expressed displeasure on Friday over delays in various projects related to the expansion of health services in the capital.

Members of the Senate Functional Committee on Government Assurances held a meeting to review the progress of the expansion of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and Polyclinic Hospital and the progress of establishing a District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital in Tarlai in the capital’s outskirts.

The Senate body was informed that files carrying expansion details of the top two public hospitals of the capital are just moving from one department to another, while the Tarlai project had been on the shelf since 2009.

Islamabad Chief Commissioner Jawad Paul informed the committee that the Planning Commission had raised objections over the Tarlai project and he was not aware of its current status. The committee members reacted angrily over the commissioner’s lack of information.



Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Secretary Faridullah Khan briefed the members about the expansion plans of the two public hospitals. He said expansion of the 545-bed Polyclinic Hospital had been pending due to bureaucratic hurdles and there was no space for its expansion. “The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is not willing to sell Argentine Park, adjacent to Polyclinic, for the construction of the new block.” He added that now that two of its proposed plans had been approved, the finance ministry was not releasing the funds. A PC-I amounting to Rs12 million has been prepared for the feasibility study and the other of Rs55.31 million relates to land acquisition from CDA, he explained.

Regarding the expansion of Pims, the CADD secretary told the committee that a NESPAK team had reported that there was no provision for the construction of another storey in the existing building. Pims expansion plans envisage an increase from 850 beds to 1,000 beds. Senator Kalsoom Perveen suggested that CADD hire another consultant to look into the construction of new blocks in the parking area while the reduced parking space could be managed by building a multi-storey parking plaza.

Finally, the committee decided that officials of the planning commission, ministry of finance, CDA and CADD would be called in the next meeting so that the matter could be settled. The meeting was chaired by Senator Saeed Ghani of Pakistan Peoples Party.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2013.