ISLAMABAD: Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) has finally moved a summary to the Prime Minister’s Office seeking relaxation in land utilisation rules to start work on Polyclinic extension project.

Keeping in view the increasing patients load on the existing building of the hospital the capital administration conceived the plan some six years ago.

Since then it remained on the back burner and finally Additional Secretary CADD Qaiser Majeed recently said a summary for the hospital’s extension had been initiated.

Polyclinic was established in 1966 as Central Government Services Hospital and it had only eight beds to cater to the emergency, surgery, medicine and gynae patients.

Now it has expanded into a 545-bed hospital with the objective to providing free of cost, high quality primary, secondary and tertiary curative care services to the federal government employees.

A doctor of the hospital on condition of anonymity said in 2008 it was decided to construct building on one third of the park that come to 2.5 acres.

However, the project hit snag when then-ministry of health realised that the park was named after Argentina and the country’s embassy had provided funds for its construction and maintenance.

“The Foreign Office was contacted and asked to take up the matter with Argentinean embassy, which allowed the hospital’s extension into the park. It was decided that a ward in the new block of the hospital would be named after Argentina, where treatment expenses of a patient will be borne by the embassy,” he said.

“It was decided that under the first phase a five-storey building would be built and in the later stage it will have a sixth floor as well for which strong foundations and pillars would be laid,” he said.

“PC-II of Rs 1 billion project was approved and as per design of the building there would be two basements and spacious parking area. Old building of the Polyclinic would be reconstructed in phase II,” he said.

Another doctor who looks after administrative matters said the new block would have paediatric surgery, neurosurgery, heart surgery and other facilities.

“Moreover, diagnostics facility of CT scan and MRI, which is currently not available in the hospital, will be provided in the block.

However, facility of Thallium scan is available in the hospital. Thallium scan is done with radioactive tracer to see how much blood is reaching in different parts of heart from veins,” he said.

“After the 2005 earthquake and security situation in Karachi and other areas of the country, a large number of people migrated to Islamabad for good and now 7,000 to 8,000 patients visit different ancillary departments of Polyclinic each day,” he said.

“Initially, Polyclinic was established to cater to government servants but with the passage of time it started providing health facility to people other than government servants.

At the moment a 60-bed Mother and Child Heath (MCH) centre, under the administrative control of Polyclinic, is working near Aabpara market. A 20-bed Civil Surgeon Dispensary is working in sector G-7/3-4,” he said.

“Moreover as many as 30 dispensaries controlled by Polyclinic are working in federal capital and even in Rawalpindi to ensure health facility for the government servants near their houses,” he said.

“Dispensaries of Polyclinic are also operating in Presidency, Prime Minister Office, Supreme Court, Pak Secretariat, in two educational institutions, AGPR and sectors of federal capital,” he said.

“New building for the Polyclinic is the need of the hour because overcrowded old building has become suffocating. According to the project the new building will have a capacity almost equal to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences,” he said.

“Around 30,000 patients are admitted in the hospital annually and over 95 per cent beds remain occupied all the time,” he said.

The minister CADD, Barrister Usman Ibrahim, at a briefing held on July 9, also took interest in the project and instructed the ministry officials to take necessary steps for the completion.

The officer of the ministry informed the minister that the prime minister would lay the foundation stone of the project.

Now-a-days the park has been occupied by the Punjab police officials, called in the wake of the sit-ins by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan A wami Tehreek with thermo pole lunch boxes littering the park.

Abdul Shakoor, a resident of the area while talking to Dawn said they once used to stroll the park but for the last many months it has become a haven for drug addicts.

“For last one month the park is an abode for the police officials who stay there in daytime so it is not possible for the residents of the area especially families to go to the park for a walk,” he said.

Additional Secretary CADD Qaiser Majeed said that extension of building of Polyclinic is not without snags.

“After the Supreme Court notice of handing over of F-9 Park land to fast food outlet MacDonald, Capital Development Authority (CDA) has become much cautious in utilising park land for any commercial or other purposes,” he said.

“CDA initially claimed that unless bylaws are not amended the policlynic project cannot move forward. Therefore, the summery has been moved to the Prime Minister’s Office seeking relaxation in the land rules.

At the moment the summery is in law division so CADD has been trying to expedite the process and get approval from Prime Minister. Only then it will be possible to start work on the hospital extension project,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd , 2014