QUETTA: With the completion of two more wards now under construction at an estimated cost of Rs. 1.9 lakhs, the Fatima Jinnah Sanatorium at Brewery Road, near Quetta, will have bedded strength of 278 in July this year [March 21].

Initially, the sanatorium had only 28 beds when it started functioning in 1941.

Fatima Jinnah Sanatorium, set up to cater for the requirements of TB patients of this region, continued to expand since 1958 and the bedded strength touched the figure of 228. The two wards being built with 25 beds each will, in all probability, be completed in the month of July, raising the bed strength to 278.

Some staff quarters will also be completed along with the patient wards within the allocated amount.

The Medical Superintendent of the Sanatorium told this correspondent that the ultimate target of converting it into a 600-bed chest hospital will be achieved during a twenty-year plan. This hospital will be equipped with modern appliances for treatment of various diseases of heart and lungs. The plan will be implemented in a phased programme.

Meanwhile, Fatima Jinnah Sanatorium’s TB clinic, in the heart of Quetta town, has x-rayed a large number of people through mass miniature radiography introduced some three years ago.

Those who have been x-rayed, free of cost, include factory workers, teachers and members of the general public. This system has greatly helped in detecting TB cases in the early stage of the disease. — Correspondent

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2018