Improving healthcare: Nearly Rs1 billion to be spent on BBH upgrade

Hanif Abbasi briefs allied hospital officials on provincial govt’s development plans

RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government allocated close to Rs1 billion for the development and uplift of the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) between 2014 and 2016, according to former MNA Hanif Abbasi on Friday.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is focused on promoting public health facilities under which various investments have and will be made to BBH.

He said nearly Rs622 million had been earmarked for the hospital in the current year for purchasing machinery, equipment and infrastructure uplift.

Of this amount, Rs197 million will be used to purchase patient beds, ambulances and air-conditioners, as well as electro-medical equipment for the following: intensive care unit, operation theatre, radiology, cardiology care unit, gynaecology, pathology, orthopaedic ward, ophthalmology, psychiatry, dentistry, ENT (ear, nose and throat) and urology. Moreover, Rs176 million will be spent on setting up an emergency unit, while Rs103 million will be spent on modernising the hospital’s paediatrics department.

A total of Rs260 million was spent on the hospital last year. A sum of Rs89 million was spent on the construction of an emergency block, while the establishment of a doctors’ library at a cost of Rs100 million is nearing completion. Abbasi said a CT scan machine and lithotripter have been installed at a cost of Rs59 million, while 10 dialysis machines at a cost of Rs12 million are in the process of being imported.

He added that under a separate grant, Rs146 million had been released for BBH’s renovation.

To a question, the former MNA said the district government had already provided Rs90 million for road repair within the hospital, which will begin soon.

He also said the construction of a urology hospital is under way, but did not mention a completion date.

Abbasi further said a summary had been forwarded to the provincial government related to offering free pathological tests to the hospital’s in-door patients. He added that BBH had been a focal hospital for residents of Rawalpindi as well as adjoining areas up to Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Board of Allied Hospitals Chairman Dr Muhammad Aslam, Allied Hospitals Principal Dr Muhammad Umar, and other senior officials were present at the briefing.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2015.