LAHORE: Punjab’s Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique has said that construction work on the Pakistan Kidney, Liver Transplant & Research Institute (PKLI) is going on according to the timeline and the first phase of the 150-bed project would be completed by December 2017. He said that the total cost of the project is Rs 20 billion, while Rs six billion will be spent by this month’s end.
He was talking to the media after presiding over a meeting of the PKLI steering committee at the site office on Bedian Road.
PKLI Trust President Dr Saeed Akhtar, Infrastructure Development Authority (IDAP) General Manager Naveed Tariq, Health Department Chief Planning Officer Abdul Haq Bhatti, P&D officers, Sui Gas, WASA, LESCO, Finance Department and other concerned agencies attended the meeting.
IDAP’s Naveed Tariq briefed the meeting regarding the pace of work and apprised the meeting regarding the progress of procurement of biomedical equipment. He told the meeting that the construction work on Phase-I under Package-A of the PKLI would hopefully be completed by the end of November and it would be inaugurated on December 25, 2017.
He informed that advertisement regarding the procurement of medical equipment has been sent and the procurement orders would be issued in August. It is pertinent to mention here that two million working hours have been spent on the project and by the grace of God and following the international standards regarding safety arrangements no incident had taken place during the working.
The meeting reviewed the working on construction/widening of approach roads to the PKLI, arrangements for heavy connections of electricity, water, sewerage and Sui gas etc.
The officers of the concerned departments updated the steering committee regarding the said arrangements. The arrangements for landscaping and tree plantation also came under discussion. Earlier, Salman Rafique distributed certificates among the medical officers who had completed training on the hepatitis prevention and treatment clinic of the PKLI.
Sixty eight medical officers have been recruited by the health department for postings at the hepatitis filter clinics established across the province.
While talking to doctors, Salman Rafique said that they should not consider this posting as a part of a movement to eradicate hepatitis from the province.
He further said that we all are part of this movement, and advised the doctors to deal with the patients politely as doctors’ attitude play a crucial role in patient’s recovery.