Prime Minister approves Rs 30 billion for PIMS upgradation, building of three hospitals

A parliamentary panel was informed on Friday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved Rs 30 billion for up-gradation of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and construction of three more modern hospitals in the federal capital. Vice-Chancellor PIMS, Dr Javed Akram briefed the sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which met here with Shahida Akhter in the chair, to review audit objections of the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD).
Akram said that PIMS' outdoor patient department (OPD) has the capacity to treat 5,500 patients per day, adding after completion of Metro Bus Project patients arriving at the hospital has reached 11,500. He said the hospital is making all-out efforts to provide them medical facilities. He said that PIMS is providing medical treatment to every patient at Rs 9.5 while real cost is Rs 174 per patient in OPD. The committee directed Ministry of CADD and Capital Development Authority (CDA) to remove all the hurdles in acquiring land for National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM) for which Rs 6 million had been paid to the CDA in 2003. The convener committee directed the Secretary CADD Nargis Ghalo to ensure early allotment of land to the NIRM hospital.
Akram said that a package of Rs 30 billion had been approved by the Prime Minister to meet growing healthcare needs of people at the hospital. "On the instruction of the Prime Minister, we have prepared a PC-1 of the expansion plan and submitted it to the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms," he added.
He said that the PIMS is also operating Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), which has 120 beds but recently the Prime Minister has directed the authorities to further enhance it so that the people of country can get best health facilities at their doorstep. Under the Rs 30 billion health package, the existing facilities would be enhanced while some new projects would be initiated for the patients. Explaining further, he said the trauma centre, mortuary, thalassaemia centre and new pediatric specialties would be made available.
Akram said now PIMS has become a central hospital, serving patients from across the country, besides working as a centre of the human development in field of medicine. He said Japan has also provided significant financial assistance to the hospital since 1980s which consisting of 10 grant aid projects amounting to Rs 10 billion, besides technical co-operation. In order to alleviate neonatal mortality rate, 200-bed in-patient department and OPD that could accommodate maximum 2,000 patients per day, were constructed with the cost of Rs 4 billion.
About capacity building programme, he said through technical co-operation project by JICA, the training on safe motherhood and nutrition was conducted for female medical staffs/workers. Around 41 Japanese experts were dispatched while 11 Pakistani staffs were sent to Japan for training. Regarding College of Nursing and College of Medical Technologies Construction of Schools, he said in order to improve the quality of service delivery these schools were built to produce approximately 200 nurses and medical technicians at a cost of Rs 1.5 billion.
He said through technical co-operation project of nursing education, seven long-term and five short-term Japanese experts were deputed at this college to improve the education of nursing. In addition, 13 Pakistani nurses were trained in Japan. Regarding provision of other equipment, he informed that under non-project grant aid for provision of industrial products, industrial products such as forklift that were produced in the disaster-affected areas in Japan at cost of over Rs 100 million were provided to PIMS. The medical equipments such as radiography and operation table amounting to Rs 110 million were also provided.