RAWALPINDI: The construction work on the Institute of Urology and Kidney Transplant is still incomplete even after five years.

The health department fears that the cost of the project would further increase if it is not completed by 2018.

The Rs2 billion project was started in 2012 but the slow work at the site escalated the cost to Rs3.4 billion. The provincial government has allocated Rs500 million for the project in the current fiscal year but the amount is yet to be released.

The 96 kanals land for the institute at Murree Road was acquired in 2010-11 from the Punjab Agriculture Department.

“The agriculture soil conservation workshop and 120 houses of the agriculture department were shifted to different places for the construction of the hospital. But the provincial government failed to complete the project,” said a senior official of the agriculture department.

After the launch of the urology institute project, the government also did not take an interest in strengthening the urology department at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH). “The government wanted to establish a separate urology hospital and did not improve the services at the government hospital. As a result, urology patients have to go to private hospitals for treatment,” said a senior doctor of the BBH.

He said there were no facilities for the treatment of urology patients at the Holy Family Hospital and the District Headquarters Hospital. “The two hospitals usually refer the urology patients to the BBH which lack facilities,” he said.

The senior health department official added that the urology institute was supposed to be completed by December 31 after which the installation of equipment would start.

However, due to the shortage of funds the pace of work on the project slowed down.

He said the project was not likely to be completed in the tenure of the PML-N government as elections are scheduled to be held next year.

When contacted, former PML-N MNA Hanif Abbasi said the government was working on expediting the project so it could be completed by next year.

He said funds would be released for the project soon and the procurement of equipment would be started after the completion of the construction work. He said the chief minister wanted to make it a state-of-the-art hospital for kidney patients.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2017