RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) administration took more than seven years to seek funds for restarting the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system (HVAS) at Holy Family Hospital (HFH).

The RMC board of management has asked the college principal to allocate Rs6 million for the project within three weeks. The system has been lying inoperative since 2008 due to technical reasons.

The project, worth Rs4.7 million, was initiated in 1999 and completed in 2006 but it went into operation in May 2008. Soon after, however, a pillar of the building where the machinery was installed got damaged and the administration had to stop it.

Many committees were formed to fix responsibility for the poor quality of work but none of them could give its findings.

As a result, the provincial government instead of restarting the system installed more than 500 air-conditioners in the new building of the hospital, housing the RMC administration staff and doctors.

However, last month the HFH management committee referred the issue to the RMC board of management for a solution as there was no heating system for the patients.

The board of management chairman, Dr Mohammad Aslam, asked the RMC principal and chief executive of allied hospitals, Prof Dr Mohammad Umer, to allocate Rs6 million within three weeks.

A senior doctor at the HFH told Dawn that patients suffered in the chilly weather conditions.

“In the children and gynae wards, there are few gas heaters but most of the time they are not working due to low gas pressure,” he said.

“In the burn centre, the patients need to lie on the bed without covers and blankets in a normal room temperature,” he said.

“The ducks constructed for the system have become safe havens for rodents,” he said.

Talking to Dawn, RMC Board of Management Chairman Dr Mohammad Aslam said the system had been inoperative for many years.

He said the board had asked the principal to solve the issue, and hoped that the system would restart within two to three months.

He said the board of management had also started work on renovation of the ICU. Published in Dawn January 26th , 2015

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