ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan on Friday informed the Senate that no major hospital has been established in the federal capital for the last 25-30 years after the establishment of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

Responding to supplementary questions during the question hour in the house, the minister said there was a dire need for setting up another hospital in public sector.

Many patients from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab also regularly visit the public sector hospitals in the federal capital, he added. He said the establishment of Islamabad General Hospital at Tarlai was approved at a total cost of Rs2.49 billion. Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) had approved a grant assistance of about Rs2 billion for the project.

In the financial year 2016-17, an amount of Rs100 million was allocated for the project.

The minister said the hospital was expected to be completed by June 2019. The construction of the boundary wall of the hospital was started by the PWD in October 2016 but due to litigation by some locals it was delayed for two years.

Currently, the boundary wall along with approach roads from Lehtrar Road and Park Road are complete.

To another question, the minister said out of the total 302,424 coronavirus patients in the country, 290,261 have recovered from the disease so far. He said effective steps were taken to control the pandemic which were also acknowledged worldwide.

Paying tributes to doctors and paramedics, the minister said they did a wonderful job during the pandemic despite limited resources. He said international institutions were doing research to control the pandemic while our own scientists and institutions were also carrying out research to prepare a vaccine.

The minister said assistance was provided to 10.6 million families under the Ehsas Programme during the Covid-19 outbreak, adding more was given to Sindh than its share.

To a separate question, the minister said the Drug Control Section of the health department Islamabad seized 24 expired drugs from five premises/firms during the last one year.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2020