Rawalpindi: CM likely to inaugurate Institute of Cardiology on Monday

[Naveed Yaseen]

ICU and new block of Institute of Psychiatry at BBH also to be inaugurated; staff remained busy in protocol on Friday

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Muhammad Qasim

Rawalpindi

Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif is expected to perform groundbreaking to inaugurate construction work on Institute of Cardiology at Rawalpindi Medical College Staff Colony in a ceremony on Monday.

The CM would also visit Benazir Bhutto Hospital to inaugurate officially the recently made operational new block of Institute of Psychiatry. “The CM might inaugurate commissioning of the newly constructed building of Intensive Care Unit at the BBH and might visit the urology unit at the hospital,” said a top official at the BBH who wanted his name not to be published.

Earlier, the CM was supposed to visit the BBH and inaugurate Institute of Cardiology on Saturday (today), but the allied hospitals’ administration was informed on Friday that the CM would visit the BBH hospital most probably on Monday, however final programme has not been provided to the hospital administration as yet.

“A separate Institute of Cardiology is being constructed on approximately 50 kanals of piece of land at the RMC Staff Colony,” said Incharge RMC Staff Colony Associate Professor of ENT at RMC Dr Chaudhry Aslam while talking to ‘The News’ Friday.

Terming the planned institute of cardiology a unique facility, he said that it would be consisted of three blocks to deal with cardiac surgery, paediatrics surgery and nuclear surgery for cardiac problems. The institute of cardiology would have a capacity of nearly 220 beds.

Ahead of the CM’s expected visit, MNA from PML-N Muhammad Hanif Abbasi visited the BBH Friday mainly to examine and finalise arrangements for the CM’s visit. He stayed at the hospital for more than two hours. Acting Principal RMC and Incharge Allied Hospitals Professor Dr Afzal Farooqui and acting Medical Superintendent of the BBH Dr Fiaz Ahmed accompanied the MNA whose visit caused suffering for the visiting patients and as well the inward patients of the hospital.

A number of patients at the BBH expressed to ‘The News’ Friday that the majority of staff at the hospital remained busy giving protocol to the visiting MNA instead of giving attention to the issues related to treatment of the patients here.

“I have been informed that the CM would visit the Institute of Psychiatry on Monday,” said Head of the institute at BBH Professor Dr Farid Aslam Minhas while talking to ‘The News’. He said that MNA Hanif Abbassi visited the institute on Friday and appreciated the design of the newly constructed block of the institute.

The Institute of Psychiatry which also serves as WHO Collaborating Center for Mental Health Research and Training in whole of the East Mediterranean Region had to complete construction work on new block solely on self-help basis as the Punjab government contributed not a single penny for the project. The construction of new block covering a total area of 30,000 square feet cost around Rs50 million that was generated through public donations and personal efforts of the doctors serving here.

A top official at the BBH informed ‘The News’ that the CM might inaugurate working at the newly constructed building of ICU that the BBH administration has in August taken over from provincial building department. The newly constructed ICU has not been made operational as yet.

The newly constructed building of Intensive Care Unit was supposed to be handed over to the hospital before June 30 this year by the provincial building department. The BBH has been operating only a four-bedded Intensive Care Unit that has not been upgraded for more than a decade while the influx of patients at the hospital has almost doubled within past one decade.

The new ICU has a capacity of 15 beds. It is important that the BBH is going to have an approved ICU in it for the first time as it had been working without approved ICU since its establishment in 1980. The four to six bedded ICU being operated at the BBH was arranged locally with the cooperation of a non-government organisation.

The existing ICU at the BBH is operating under supervision of anaesthesia department with main support on the subject of staff from Surgery and Gynaecology departments. The BBH has no staff for ICU and the doctors from concerned units themselves look after their patients in the present set-up of ICU however the government has taken no steps as yet to resolve the problem of shortage of staff at the hospital.

‘The News’ learnt that the BBH hospital administration had submitted request for staff to the provincial health department under Schedule of New Establishment (SNE), however, no action has yet been taken on the subject. Sources said that the BBH would run the new setup of ICU with the help of existing staff.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=200124