BAHAWALPUR: The Punjab government has released a sum of Rs800 million for the revamp and repairs of a number of buildings on the premises of the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH).

BVH Medical Superintendent Dr Aamir Bokhari told Dawn on Saturday, that the funds were sanctioned on the recommendation of Punjab Governor Baleegh-ur-Rehman recently as some of the BVH buildings were in urgent need of repairs and renovation.

The MS said the buildings to be repaired include different wards of the BVH, particularly its OPD.

He said that out of the total released amount, a sum of over Rs129 million would be utilised on OPD’s revamp, followed by Rs84m, Rs75m and Rs65m to be spent on the repairs and maintenance of the ENT ward, TB block and Plastic Surgery block, respectively.

The MS said after the funds released by the provincial government, the local building department has started preparations to execute the repairs project at the BVH.

He added that in view of the revamping work to be carried out in various wards, the patients admitted there would be shifted to the Government Sadiq Abbasi Hospital, Jhangiwali Road, Bahawalpur, along with the entire staff.

In this regard, Quaid-e-Azam Medical College (QAMC) Principal and BVH Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Prof Dr Sufia Farrukh has notified that in the first phase, the patients and staff of the BVH’s Medical Ward No 3 would be shifted to Sadiq Abbasi Hospital.

Dr Bokhari added that efforts were also on to get more uplift scheme sanctioned for the hospital, including the installation of more CT-Scan and MRI machines, to cope with the growing number of the patients.

IUB WORKSHOP: The Islamia University(IUB) IT department, in collaboration with SAFE-RH project, comprising artificial intelligence, and edge–networking towards rural health monitoring, organised a two-day training workshop for medical and nursing students.

The workshop was attended by the students of Quaid-e-Azam Medical College (QAMC), IUB’s University College of Nursing (UCON) and Shahida Islam Medical College (SIMC), Lodhran.

The SAFE-RH project is being jointly executed by the University of the West of Scotland (UK), University De Lorraine, The Islamia University (IUB), Capital University of Science and Technology (COMSATS), Wah Campus.

The teams of these institutions conducted the training sessions on three modes --- online system, mobile application and offline system -- of the project.

The overall objective of the project is to develop a smart healthcare system to support the provision of healthcare services in Pakistan.

Moreover, SAFE-HR aims to provide an education and training system to help health workers understand the use of new technologies.

The event attracted over 1,000 participants, including doctors, nurses and students from across south Punjab.

The SAFE-RH project is a combination of sensing devices, artificial intelligence (AI), and edge networking. AI and sensing devices are used to improve the accuracy of diagnosis, patient engagement, follow-ups with consultants, suggesting diagnostic tests, and continuous remote monitoring through setting up reminder messages in case of emergency.

Addressing the concluding session as chief guest, IUB Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Naveed Akhtar appreciated the efforts of SAFE-RH Project team.

He said the project would also help in integration of AI in the healthcare industry and prove beneficial for the people of Pakistan, especially of south Punjab.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2023