GUJRAT: Sara-i-Alamgir tehsil headquarters hospital could not be made functional even six years after the project was launched.

The Rs230 million THQ hospital project comprising 60 beds had been initiated by the Punjab government in 2009 for the residents of Sara-i-Alamgir which had been granted tehsil status back in 1993.

At least Rs192 million had so far been spent on the hospital’s three-storey building, whereas Rs20 million had been used for procurement of equipment which is yet to be installed at the facility.

As many as 89 posts, including those of medical officers and specialists etc have been approved for the hospital which are yet to be advertised.

While work on the construction of six doctors’ residences is under way since long, even completed portion of the hospital’s main building could not be handed over to the health department for further procedure. Twelve more residences for doctors and other staff have also been planned on the hospital premises.

Official sources told Dawn that provision of accommodation to the doctors was a must to attract them to such a far-flung place. They added that as soon as the residences were complete, the hospital would become operational. They said delayed funding to the project had been delaying its execution.

It is learnt that District Coordination Officer Liaqat Ali Chattha, along with the concerned officials of the health and buildings departments had paid a visit to the site last week and inspected the pace of work.

The DCO had given Jan 31 deadline to the concerned officials for completion of formalities for handing over the building to the health department, installation of medical equipment and machinery, besides recruitment against the vacancies.

The sources said health department had sought additional funds for the procurement of more medical equipment for the hospital.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2016

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