After shuttling between one government hospital and the other, Tahir Yousuf had no other option but to sell the jewellery of her wife to get her admitted to a private hospital for the delivery of their baby.

The reason why Yousuf, a low-paid private sector employee, had to go to the private hospital was that there was no bed available in the obstetrics and gynaecology wards of the government hospitals in the city.

“I unsuccessfully tried to borrow money from friends. I also approached a man who lends money on five per cent interest, but as I had no guarantor he also refused.”

Finally, Yousuf added, he decided to sell his wife’s gold bangles for Rs60,000 and admitted her to a private hospital. The private hospital charged Rs40,000 for the delivery of the baby while the remaining Rs20,000 were spent on medicines and tests.

Yousuf was among hundreds of people who face shortage of beds at the obstetrics and gynaecology wards in the three government hospitals. There is an acute shortage of beds in these hospitals while work on the establishment of two women and children hospitals has been lingering for years.

There are 220 beds in the gynaecology ward of the Holy Family Hospital where most of the time over 300 patients are crammed together. The gynaecology ward at Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) has 40 beds but it admits over 70 patients at a time. Besides, each of the 40 beds at the DHQ hospital is filled by three patients.

There is a dire need for more hospitals in the city but the government has stopped work on the construction of a new hospital for the last many years.

A 400-bed mother and child hospital has been under-construction at Asghar Mall for the last six years due to a tussle between the federal and the Punjab governments.

The construction of the hospital worth Rs2.5 billion was inaugurated in 2006 by then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz after approval of the project from the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec). However, the project got stalled after the general elections and formation of new federal and provincial governments in 2008.

According to the project, each of the federal and the Punjab governments was to provide 50 per cent of the funds for the project. A nursing school was also to be established at the hospital.

The project was started on the recommendations of the then railway minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. Now neither the federal nor the Punjab government is interested in completing the project.

Almost two years have passed after the decentralisation of health, labour and environment departments under 18th amendment but things remain the same in Punjab, especially in the Rawalpindi division.

Six months back, the Cabinet Division asked the Punjab health department to get the charge of the hospital.

However, the Punjab government asked the federal government to also provide funds to complete the project.

This move again stopped the process as the project cost has increased from Rs2.5 billion to Rs3.5 billion and the revised PC-I is to be forwarded to Ecnec for approval before handing it over to the provincial government.

The Punjab government has also failed to complete the Rs800 million mother and child hospital at Committee Chowk.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated the construction work on November 15, 2010, and it was supposed to be completed in 2012.

The provincial government had acquired land near the Committee Chowk, where a veterinary hospital and middle school was functioning. The veterinary hospital has been shifted to Sihala while the students of the middle school have been accommodated in another government school at Arya Mohallah.

A senior official of the health department told Dawn that they had no funds to procure equipment for the hospital and a request was still pending with the Chief Minister Secretariat.

“The cost of the project would go up in case of further delay,” he said and added that the government had no plan to execute the project at least till the completion of the Metro Bus Service Project in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Awami Muslim League President and MNA Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Dawn that the PML-N provincial government was taking revenge on the citizens of Rawalpindi for not electing its men in the general elections.

“The PML-N disliked all the projects launched by me whether it is the 400-bed mother and child hospital or the Leh Nullah expressway.”

He said the hospital was necessary for the residents who faced problems at the three allied hospitals due to shortage of beds and other facilities.” He said the Punjab government was not taking the health subject seriously.

When contacted, Director Health Dr Zafar Iqbal Gondal said negotiations between the federal and the Punjab governments were in progress to complete the mother and child hospital at Asghar Mall.

He said a report had been sent to the health secretary and the hospital would be handed over to the province soon. He said more than 50 per cent work had been completed on the project and the remaining would take more than six months.

To a question about the hospital at Committee Chowk, the official said work on the building was likely to complete by the end of this year.