September 16, 2008	Tuesday	Ramazan 15, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 15: Work on the Civil Hospital Karachi’s accident and emergency centre and ancillary services complex project has again been deferred due to a delay in the shifting of neurosurgery and ophthalmology wards of the hospital to a new site.

Sources in the CHK said that the authorities were not sure about the exact date of the commencement of the project, generally called the trauma centre project, as a couple of interlinked developments could not take place according to the execution plan.

Earlier, managers of the project had expressed their confidence that the proposed emergency care facility worth Rs1.4 billion would be started in August 2008. The trauma centre project was announced by the federal government about three and a half years back.

A source said that the relocation of the neurosurgery and ophthalmic wards at the Sindh Services Hospital, off M. A. Jinnah Road, where the existing buildings had been renovated with an addition of floors, could not take place, this time due to the non-supply of electricity connections.

A payment of Rs2.6 million had already been made to the KESC for an exclusive supply of power up to 735KVA for making the two departments functional, but there was no follow-up from the KESC, said the source, adding that the acquisition of power supply from the KESC had now become uncertain.

In the absence of a necessary power supply, the CHK is not in a position to dismantle its neurosurgery and ophthalmic facilities. Closing the departments without alternative arrangements would cause considerable inconvenience to the thousands of patients visiting the CHK, the source said.

The latest location decided for the accident and emergency centre is a site on Chand Bibi Road, where neurosurgery and ophthalmology wards of the CHK are functioning. The proposed project, planned to be an earthquake-proof 14-storey building with modern equipment, will be built on a 7,000 square-yard plot.

Hayat Kemal, the project director, said despite repeated requests the KESC staff had remained unmoved. The matter had also been brought to the knowledge of the high-ups in the provincial health department.

He said that as soon as the power supply was ensured for the two departments, the equipment and diagnostics machines of the eye and neurosurgery departments would be shifted to the new place, following which the ground would be prepared for the launch of the trauma centre project.

He said he hoped that if things went in the right direction and power supply became available at the earliest, the practical implementation of the ambitious project would start some time in October.

On Sept 20, the tenders received would be opened and by the end of October, he said, tendering for civil works of the trauma centre would be completed and work order would be issued to the selected contractors.

Replying to a question, Mr Kemal said the flow of money for the trauma centre project would be no problem. The federal government had so far released Rs112.5 million, which was lying unutilized. About Rs70 million would be released both by the federal and Sindh governments during the current financial year, he said.

The trauma centre, first of its kind in the province, is aimed at providing treatment facilities to about 110,000 emergency patients every year, while about 1,500 patients will be offered surgical intensive care and about 2,500 patients will be extended medical intensive care facilities annually.