PM directs to construct 39 new hospitals

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif approved the construction of 39 state-of-the-art hospitals across the country.

Prime Minister Sharif was given a comprehensive briefing over the prime minister’s initiative to improve healthcare infrastructure across the length and breadth of the country.

The prime minister was briefed over the existing healthcare infrastructure in the country in the context of population – hospital bed ratio and availability of inpatient care facility.

The meeting briefed that the ratio of beds per 1,000 people in Pakistan was zero to five in 1970, zero to seven in 2005, zero to 61 in 2015 while zero to 62 this year.

The prime minister approved the construction of three hospitals in Islamabad with a capacity of 600 beds each and ten 50-bedded and 250-bedded hospitals across the country. He also directed to restore work on one obstetrics and gynecology hospital in Rawalpindi that had been stopped in 2011 due to devolution.

The prime minister also approved in principle, the proposed sites for two more hospitals in the federal capital. He directed that four to five 100-bedded hospitals be completed in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

He said that he would personally monitor the progress on hospitals in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other parts of the country. He said government is simultaneously targeting poverty and disease through infrastructure development and establishment of healthcare infrastructure across the country.

He said it is the responsibility of the government to ensure healthy living for the citizens so that they can contribute towards the development and prosperity of the country without any hindrance.  The total cost on the construction of these 39 hospitals will be Rs 110 billion.