HARIPUR, Aug 21: The construction of the District Headquarters Hospital Haripur could not be completed even after the lapse of 14 years, depriving people of the area of healthcare facilities, Dawn has learnt.

The groundbreaking of the 210-bed B-class Haripur DHQ hospital project was performed in 1993 by then NWFP chief minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, but the construction work was started in Jan 1995.

The partially completed portions of the hospital are exposed to wear and tear because of the delay in construction work and indifferent attitude of the provincial government. The portions, including doctors and nurses’ hostel, MS house and admin block, have been partially damaged.

A survey of the hospital shows that windowpanes are broken, internal passages damaged at several places, geysers installed prior to the gas supply are rusting and seepage and cracks are visible, indicating the use of substandard material in the construction.

Equipment worth Rs25 million purchased for the project could not be made functional and costly machinery has been lying in the store for the last two years.

The phase-I of the project comprising OPD, casualty, pathology, X-ray, ICU, 40-bed wards and medicine departments was scheduled to be completed and made operational by June 1998, while the work on the remaining two phases was to be carried out after the completion of phase-I.

The OPD, casualty, pathology and cardiology blocks of the phase-I costing Rs55.061 million were completed in 2003. NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani inaugurated the phase-I on April 29, 2003. The CM on the occasion was assured that the OPD, casualty, pathology, X-ray, 40 non-surgical beds and medicine departments would be shifted from the old 72-bed hospital to the new building and under the makeshift arrangement the new DHQ would be put into operation by June 30, 2003.

But the local health authorities after shifting some beds from the medicine department to the new facility succumbed to the pressure of some vested interests and rescinded its earlier decision citing shortage of staff and some basic facilities.

The provincial health department meanwhile decided to complete the DHQ Hospital in one go and revised PC-1 of the second phase in June 2003 and a grant of Rs112.03 million was earmarked for the remaining work and the construction period was extended to June 2005. However, the partially-completed phase-I was not made operational for various reasons, sources said. The cost of the remaining work was again revised from Rs112.03 million to Rs199.818 million in 2006 and the completion date was fixed as June 30, 2007.

In August 2006, all three contractors reportedly suspended work demanding payment of dues amounting to Rs20 million and increasing schedule rates of 1999. The works and services department suspended the contract forfeiting their securities for failing to meet the completion date of the project.

The contract was awarded to new firms on February 23, 2007, with 75 per cent upward revision in schedule rates of 1999. The cost of the remaining work was also increased from Rs199.818 million to Rs248.212 millions in January this year.

The new firms were given the target of completion of the operation theatre block, ICU block, four wards, footpaths, international roads and electrification by June 2008.

Talking to Dawn, Dr Nawaz Khan, Medical Superintendent, DHQ Haripur, was sceptical about the completion of the project in the next three years. “The pace of work is slow, gas and water supply are not available, electrification is incomplete and the completed portions of the building need either finishing or repair,” he said.

Dr Nawaz held the works and services department responsible for delay in making the much-needed health facility operational.

“It was a pity that our elected representatives could not make the DHQ hospital functional even after the lapse of 14 years while many other health projects launched much later than the DHQ hospital have either been completed or are near completion,” said Javed Qureshi, Advocate-General and Secretary of High Court Bar Association (Abbottabad Bench).

He said he would file a suite against the provincial and district governments and works, services and health departments for deaths occurred during the shifting of patients to other cities because of lack of ICU and CCU facilities in Haripur district.