ISLAMABAD, June 17: A government hospital for the disabled in the city finds its expansion plans disabled by the red tape in the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

A document available with Dawn shows that the National Institute of Rehabilitation and Medicine (Nirm) located in Sector G-8/2, got and paid for a piece of land more than 10 years ago but the CDA mandarins have yet to handover the plot to the hospital.

“After the CDA offered the 4,167 square yard plot at a lower rate than the market rate, the President of Pakistan approved a grant of Rs4.7 million in July 2005 for the expansion of the Nirm hospital,” said an official of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CAAD) created for Islamabad after the 18th Constitution Amendment devolved powers to the provinces.

In the meantime the appetite of CDA for money increased and it demanded Rs1.3 million more because the property boom had increased the market price in the area.

“We paid the Rs1.3 million but the CDA still is not responding to our inquiries and requests to transfer the land so that the public interest project could be implemented,” said the CAAD official.

When informed of these complaints, the CDA Chairman, Syed Tahir Shahbaz, said the matter was not in his knowledge but promised to resolve it within this week.

“If things are as they say, and Nirm has paid all its dues, you have my assurances that we will resolve the matter in a week’s time,” the chairman said.

Also, if any CDA official was found negligent of his duties in the matter, “we will take stern disciplinary action against the officer”.

A visit to Nirm revealed that the hospital is not just short of space for the increasing number of patients approaching it but that it also cannot provide accommodation to all its nurses and doctors.

“We have no hostel, nor any accommodation for our physicians,” a senior administration official of Nirm noted.

“We pushed the CDA real hard between 2007 and 2012 but always received a cold response from its planning department,” he said. “They never listen to our genuine concern nor the matter is conveyed to the CDA Board,” he added.

Nirm is providing state of the art medical treatment to people suffering from permanent disability, speech therapy to people with speech difficulties and physiotherapy to people suffering from severe pains.

It also provides artificial limbs without any government funding to the needy people, especially children.

“We want to expand the hospital but resolving a matter in CDA is a difficult task,” said the Nirm administration official.

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.