LHC seeks record of Wazirabad Institute of Cardiology

MS says hospital has been made functional

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) directed the government on Thursday to submit record of PC-I of the Institute of Cardiology, Wazirabad.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah issued the directive on a petition requesting the court to order the government to make the hospital, built under former chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, functional.

The PTI Punjab Lawyers’ Wing had moved the petition through Advocate Gohar Nawaz Sindhu.

Institute of Cardiology, Wazirabad, Medical Superintendent Ali Shahid told the court the hospital had starting functioning with 50 beds. Three doctors and 65 paramedics had started working, he said. He said services such as ECG and echocardiography were available and that a laboratory had also been functioning.

Shahid said an ICU and a surgical floor would be established soon and 150 beds added. The PC-I for the purpose was at the final stage, the doctor said. The judge asked him to produce the record of the PC-I approved at the time of construction of the hospital. He then put off hearing until July 28.

The petitioner’s counsel said the hospital’s building had been completed. He said emergency services had started but the government had later stopped them and was not providing funds to the institute. He said heart patients in the area had to go to other cities for treatment. He alleged that the government had stopped funding because the hospital was built during Elahi’s tenure. The incumbent government did not want to give credit for the hospital to Elahi’s government, he said.

He requested the court to order the government to release funds for the hospital and make it functional early.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2015.