LAHORE: The bureaucratic bottlenecks and the alleged negligence on the part of the university’s administration have delayed the establishment of a new independent and self-contained campus of the historic King Edward Medical University, Lahore, at Muridke-Narowal Road.

It was one of the mega health schemes which had been facing delay for many years due to the alleged negligence on the part of, primarily, the institute’s administration.

Under the project, the major facilities which were to be provided included college of allied health sciences, college of postgraduate medical sciences, an international undergraduate medical college, an institute of dentistry, college of nursing, 1,000-bed new hospital, an emergency block for 300 patients, hostels for over 900 students, nursing hostel for over 300 students, residential blocks/areas for various tiers, residents’ hostels for 175 each boys and girls and 20 other facilities.

Originally, the scheme had been launched in 2015 at a cost of Rs175 million when its PC-II was approved the same year.

Successive VCs seem reluctant to execute project as VC office is to be shifted to Muridke

Later, the academic council of the KEMU approved the master plan for the new campus of the varsity in June 2017 including the construction of 1,000-bed teaching hospital and a 100-seat international level undergraduate medical college at Rs11 billion cost at that time.

The chief minister had promised Rs2bn for the project while rest of the funds were to be managed by the KEMU through its own resources.

The bureaucratic hurdles continued to delay the scheme which is still awaiting attention of the authorities as nothing has been done so far to materialise the project despite getting approvals from all relevant forums except hiring of few guards, transplantation of trees and recruitment of managerial staff including consultants, engineers against hefty salary packages.

Interestingly, the official document pertaining to the new campus of the KEMU itself shows non-seriousness when it claims “some major achievements of the project” so far.

About the achievements, the document says, “The university has acquired the land from the government on Muridke-Narowal Road, security guard rooms have been built, the master plan of the new campus got approved, boundary walls partially completed, and consultants have been hired.”

An official privy to the mega scheme said the successive KEMU vice chancellors had been using delaying tactics because as per plan the VC office was to be shifted from Lahore’s office to new campus at Muridke.

He said the office/building and all other assets of the institute belonged to the King Edward Medical College.

After the restoration of the historic institute’s college status, the KEMU VC was bound to transfer the office and other belongings to the KEMU principal to use it as per rules and regulations.

The official said this demand was raised when the Medical Teaching Institute (Reforms) Act 2020 was enforced in 2021 and the Board of Governors was formed.

However, the Act, later, lapsed and BoG dissolved, abolishing the status of the medical college just for the sake of empowering the VC to hold his entire command over the varsity.

Since the launch of the scheme, the VCs have been holding briefing sessions, the official said adding that practically, they did nothing so far except to seek attention of the higher authorities.

Sharing background perspective of the new campus at Muridke on 229 acres land, the official said when its execution was delayed for more than two years or so in 2017, the Provincial Development Working Party approved the PC-II of the KEMU in November 2019.

The then Planning and Development (P&D) Board Chairman Habeebur Rehman Gilani chaired the meeting when approval to the PC-II was granted at that time.

As per the plan, many multi-storey buildings were to be constructed to accommodate the maximum facilities including all the essential components of a medical university under one roof.

About the reasons, the document says, the project of new campus was proposed in Muridke as the existing premises of the KEMU in Lahore was located in a densely populated area (Anarkali) and visited by thousands of people every day for shopping.

As Anarkali was always choked with traffic and resonating with the noise of horns, students were finding it difficult to focus on their educational activities.

Consequently, travelling to and from the university was no less than an uphill task, according to the document.

Similarly, it was highlighted that when KEMC was upgraded to the university in 2006, its campus was not spacious enough to meet the fresh demands.

At that time the medical science was developing at a tremendous pace, requiring establishment of new departments and facilities.

However, due to acute shortage of space, neither the hostels could be built nor any other department could be created.

Even no open space was available in the near vicinity which could be acquired to undertake these development activities.

In view of these issues, it was decided by the Punjab government to establish new self-contained campus of the KEMU.

The document further states that the PC-II of the scheme was approved from P&DW at a total cost of Rs175m in 2015.

After fulfilling the codal formalities, the PMU staff was recruited in April and May 2016 for two years. Funds for the project for financial year 2015-16 amounting to Rs23.6m were received in June 2016.

Meanwhile, the services of the Engineering Services Consultant (ESC) hired for the designing of the project in July 2016 were terminated in July 2017 because of poor performance and very slow work.

The hiring of new consultant was started in October 2017 and the second consultant G3 Engineering Consultants (Pvt) Ltd. was hired in January 2018 with a bilateral agreement.

The revised PC-II (for extension in gestation period) was sent for approval in March 2018.

The Punjab Specialised Healthcare & Medical Education Department put observations on submitted revised PC-II in October 2018.

Later, amendments were proposed and a revised PC-II amounting to Rs223.9m for the period of January 2017-June 2020 was submitted in February 2019.

After incorporating the proposed amendments and observations by the P&D department, the revised PC-II with a total cost of Rs145.2m was approved in January 2020.

Later on, the gestation period was extended till December 2021. The document further says the PC-I of the construction of the international hospital and undergraduate medical college was to be submitted by the third week of December 2022.

This assignment couldn’t be completed on given time period due to some reasons even after approval of the PC-I from the Punjab government.

Some of the reasons included a dispute between the KEMU and the Civil Aviation Authority on the construction of the boundary walls of the campus and retirement of the then project director.

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the gestation period of one year [w.e.f Jan 1, 2023 to Dec 31, 2023 is required so that the designing and documentation as per approved scope of the consultant agreement can be completed.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2023