LAHORE: The 100-bed, state-of-the-art treatment centre for drug addicts in Punjab Institute of Mental Health (PIMH) in Lahore remains vacant as the government has failed to employ doctors and other essential members of staff to run the facility, an evaluation report on the project has revealed.
Despite the acquisition of necessary equipment, the treatment centre remains nonfunctional for lack of medical staff.
The project titled “Establishment of 100-bedded state of art treatment centre for drug addicts in Punjab Institute of Mental Health, Lahore” was proposed by the government of Punjab body specialized healthcare and medical education department in 2013.
The initial proposal of the project had estimated its cost to come at about Rs233.6 million for two years. However, a later revision increased this amount to Rs240.6 million, and its duration to three years. Yet, upon completion of the project, the planning and development department’s monitoring and evaluation team conducted a time and cost analysis of the project and identified several issues, of which the most astonishing one was the absence of a staff to run it. The team pointed out that the objectives set forth in the project required “human resource” which had unfortunately not been included in the project plan.
The evaluation report obtained by Pakistan Today reveals that the project was completed within one month of the stipulated deadline and the costs incurred were 3.64 percent below the estimated cost entered into the proposal. Yet, with no human resource employed to run the project, all the deadlines and objectives that have been met amount to nought.
The report states that ambiguity in the project proposal, or PC-1, of the project led to the non-hiring of staff. It states that the PC-1 had not included the requirement of hiring staff, nor had it allocated a budget to it.
The project was executed in two phases: construction of building and procurement of furniture and medical equipment. However, the report reveals that the construction work was finished with only a moderately satisfactory quality.
Seepages are already damaging the newly constructed building even before it has been put to use, the evaluators stated in their report. They, moreover, especially criticised the toilet facilities in the cells for compromising the interns’ privacy. Woodwork done at the site was also declared to be below par by the evaluators.
When contacted, a spokesman of the health department told Pakistan Today that the recruitment of staff was currently underway, adding that it would be done very soon. He said that the department would also fix other issues highlighted in the report.