ISLAMABAD: The Special Branch Islamabad has installed five walk-through gates at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) besides training the security guards of the hospital.

It may be noted that on February 14, two armed men shot Dr Shahid Nawaz Malik, the head of the Pims cardiology department, on the premises of the hospital and fled.

After the incident, the staff of the hospital announced to observe a strike against the unavailability of security. However, the hospital management assured them that security arrangements would be made within a few days.

As it was not possible to purchase the needed equipment without floating tenders, an emergency was imposed in the hospital and an emergency purchase committee headed by Prof Iqbal Mohammad was also formed.

Moreover, the finance committee, headed by Prof Khaleequz Zaman, supervised the process of hiring security companies.

According to an official statement, the walk-through gates were installed at the emergency ward, OPD, children ward, general ward and the officers’ ward of Pims.

In addition, the security staff of the hospital was imparted training by the bomb disposal squad.

The purpose to install the walk-through gates and arrange the training programme was to ensure foolproof security in the hospital. The capital police, Special Branch and the bomb disposal squad are working to ensure foolproof security in the hospital. Pims Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram told Dawn that 36 male and 12 female security guards had been hired from two companies.

“As there is a ban on the issuance of arms licences, the security companies were requested to provide weapons to the guards. Pistols, shotguns and semi-automatic guns have been provided to the guards,” he said.

“Moreover, 48 new cameras have been installed and another 52 will be arranged by Monday. Dr Zahid Larik has been made the chief security officer. There will be security officers in all the departments of the hospital to fix the responsibility in case of any incident,” he said.

In reply to a question, Dr Javed said there were 110 security officials in Pims out of whom 65 had been trained by the bomb disposal squad. The others will be trained soon.