After many delays and postponement, the Punjab government has finally gotten around to completing the Wazirabad Institute of Cardiology, but it only managed this task after downgrading the health facility to only 50 beds, Pakistan Today has learned.
The Wazirabad Institute of Cardiology was initiated by former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi during his last regime in 2006 at an approved cost of around Rs 2 billion. The 200-bedded hospital was a state-of-the-art health facility for heart patients, all of whom had to come all the way to the provincial metropolitan at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC).
The incumbent Punjab regime, however, after coming to power in 2008, put the project on a back-burner. Recently, however the government faced a lot of criticism by the media for depriving the masses of a crucial health facility only because of political rivalry. The Punjab government formed a committee with MNA Khurram Dastagir and Planning and Development (P&D) Chairman Javaid Aslam who declared the project a sub-campus of the PIC.
Sources on good authority revealed that so far Rs 450 million have been spent on the project while the main structure of the building has already been erected. The Punjab government decided, recently, to inaugurate the project by January next year but in a downgraded 50-bedded facility. The government has also decided to convert the top two floors into a hostel changing the entire design and purpose of the structure.
A senior expert on the condition of anonymity said the move has many flaws because downgrading will involve dismantling various equipment such as air conditioning and heating systems to mention the least. “The already installed heat ventilation and air conditioning system involves anti-germs in-built ‘hepa-filters’ and split air conditioners will be harmful for patients,” he said, adding that the building and structure is purpose built and reducing the number of beds is almost tantamount to shelving the project.
Health Secretary captain (r) Arif Nadeem told Pakistan today that the quality of human resource available in Lagore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi is not willing to work in Wazirabad. “Besides, the Wazirabad Institute of Cardiology was meant to be a satellite of the PIC with the rationale that more serious patients will be shifted to the PIC,” he added. To a question he said the CM has announced its completion and the department will observe its deadline.