More than five decades old, the Polyclinic building is one of the oldest buildings in the capital city and needs to be rebuilt. The project for its extension is also urgently needed in order to meet the requirements of the increasing population.

“The Polyclinic building was part of the city’s master plan and was constructed in 1966 along with the General Post Office, Aabpara Market, Aabpara police station and Lal Masjid, which were all also part of the master plan. Though all arrangements for constructing an extension of the building were made, the project could not be started due to a stay by the Islamabad High Court (IHC),” Dr Sharif Astori, a spokesperson for the hospital, told Dawn.

He said the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had also delayed handing over the plot for the construction of an extension to the hospital.

“The civic body easily allocates plots for commercial plazas, convention centres and other purposes but seems reluctant in allocating plots for hospitals. If the plot had been allocated in time, we would have had a five-storey building in Argentina Park. There was also a proposal for making an 11 storey-building,” he said.

Polyclinic was established as a pioneer services hospital in 1966 as the Central Government Hospital. Its objective was to provide free of cost, high quality healthcare services to federal government employees. At the moment, there are some 550 beds dedicated to primary, secondary and tertiary curative care services for federal government employees. Around 30,000 patients are admitted in the hospital annually and more than 95pc of the beds are occupied at all times.

In 2008, it was decided that a building will be constructed one one-third of the land of Argentina Park which amounts to 2.5 acres in front of the hospital. The Ministry of Health then realised that the Embassy of Argentina had provided funds for the development of the park and for its maintenance. The map of Argentina is also in the park. The Foreign Office was contacted to take the issue up with Argentina, the embassy of which allowed the construction of a hospital building in the park.

It was decided than an ‘Argentina Ward’ will be established in the new block of the hospital and that the Embassy of Argentina will provide funds for treating patients in this ward. However, some citizens obtained a stay order from IHC due to which construction work was halted.

Dr Astori said that after the earthquake of 2005 and the deterioration of the security situation in various parts of the country, a large number of people had moved to the federal capital. Currently, 7,000 to 8,000 patients visit different ancillary departments of the hospital every day.

“Other than government servants, Polyclinic is also providing health facilities to other citizens. The only hurdle in construction of an extension to the hospital is the stay order. As soon as that is vacated, the project will be started as possession of land has been provided and the funds have been arranged,” he said.

No new hospitals have been made in the city for over five decades when its population has now reached 2.2 million.

Another doctor at the hospital said the appointment of Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry as minister Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) in 2015 had given the hospital management hope that the issue may be addressed.

“CDA was also placed under CADD, which in turn was headed by a doctor. Dr Chaudhry chaired a number of meetings and due to his efforts, the price of the land in the park was also paid but the extension was delayed as the lay out plan was rejected due to extravagant use of land,” he said.

“It was decided that a new lay out plan will be made and the Central Development Working Party will be requested to approve the construction of the building but a petition was filed in IHC which granted a stay order,” he said.

High Court advocate Yasmeen Haider told Dawn residents of the area think park land should not be used to construct a hospital on.

“Residents say the trees in the park provide fresh air. The extension should be constructed elsewhere. We are told that a large number of patients come to the hospital from peripheries of the cities such as Rawat. Hospitals should be constructed in these areas instead,” she said.

Asked about the status of the case, Ms Haider said judgement in the case heard by Justice Minallah was reserved around six months ago and is yet to be announced.

“The court has clubbed together a number of environment related cases with this one and a number of times, the hearings of the other cases was restarted through judgement was reserved. I hope the issue will be settled after the judgment and the extension will be constructed elsewhere. For instance, it can be built after demolishing three or four government houses located in another sector,” she said.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2018