Senate Chairman Nayyer Hussain Bokhari has said hospitals should be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for common people.
Taking note of the lack of available ventilators in hospitals in the city, he convened a special meeting of PIMS and CADD officials to address the issue, at the Parliament House on Thursday.
The chairman said, “As public representatives we are answerable to the people and it is our responsibility to address their issues.” He said he wanted a result oriented approach rather than delaying tactics in the matter.
A PIMS official briefed the meeting regarding the state of affairs at PIMS and the lack of availability of ventilators. He said 22 out of 50 available ventilators were redundant and PIMS lacked the funds to purchase more ventilators.
PIMS Executive Director Riaz Ahmed Warraich told the chairman that a PC-I for the purchase of 30 ventilators at the cost of Rs 417 million had been sent to the planning commission, but no substantial steps had been taken in this regard.
He said a ventilator machine cost Rs 2.5 million and PIMS needed to procure 30 ventilators which could be used over a three-year period. He requested the finance secretary to allow him to utilise Rs 10 million in an austerity measure head available with PIMS, to purchase four ventilators. Warraich was subsequently granted the request.
Bokhari told officials that every measure needed be adopted to procure ventilators to save lives of patients in critical condition. He said he would ask different quarters to extend support in cash or kind to address the issue, and said that donors should be contacted immediately.
He requested a meeting with the Rawalpindi and Islamabad chambers of commerce and industry to seek assistance in the matter. The chairman said the senate’s relief fund would be checked for available finances to procure the machines.
