GUJRAT: The Punjab government has approved the installation of a hospital waste plant at Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital (ABSTH). Also, the emergency ward of the hospital will be demolished after the newly built trauma centre becomes functional in a month.

A multipurpose multi-storey building will be constructed at the site of the emergency ward. The burns centre built with donation from a local philanthropist will also become functional within the next few weeks as machinery is being installed and a plastic surgeon being recruited.

This was revealed by District Coordination Officer (DCO) Liaquat Ali Chattha while presiding over a meeting at the hospital to review the uplift projects and performance. Executive District Officer (EDO) Finance and Planning Chaudhry Muhammad Asghar, EDO (Health) Dr Altaf Chaudhry, the hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr Shahid Maroof and others were also present at the meeting.

The meeting was told that construction of the 20-bed trauma centre with Rs120 million provided as donation by a local philanthropist had now entered its final phase. A CT scan machine for the centre had already been purchased and the latest X-ray machine installed.

The DCO asked the buildings department to prepare a feasibility report of construction of a multipurpose multi-storey building at the site of the emergency ward.

Meanwhile, the local administration handed over the newly constructed girls hostel and 22 residences to the management of the University of Gujrat (UoG); construction of the medical block for Nawaz Sharif Medical College (NSMC) will also be completed by April 2017.

This was decided at a joint meeting of the district administration and UoG senior officials presided over by DCO Chattha. UoG Vice Chancellor Dr Ziaul Qayyum and others also attended the meeting on Tuesday.

A girls primary school located inside the university’s Hafiz Hayat campus will be relocated to a nearby village of Kot Amir Hussain; the cost of land acquisition and construction of the school’s new building will be afforded by the UoG administration and the school upgraded to middle level.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2016