RAWALPINDI: The nursing hostel project at Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) will be completed by August at a cost of Rs64 million.

On the instructions of Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, caretaker Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare and Population Welfare Dr Jamal Nasir inspected the revamping project of the hostel.

The minister was given a briefing about the project by officials concerned.

He was told that work on the project was started on December 2 and will be completed by August at a cost of Rs64 million.

The minister said 300 nurses were staying in the hostel and due to non-availability of alternative accommodation the revamping project will be completed in phases.

Revamping of old, new blocks of HFH to be ready ahead of schedule

He expressed satisfaction over the ongoing work and said the project should be completed on time for which the required funds would be provided.

The nursing hostel consists of 112 rooms and efforts are also being made to provide additional Rs10 million for changing the tiles of the entire hostel.

Mr Nasir said in addition to the reconstruction and repair of Holy Family Hospital worth Rs2 billion, projects were also being carried out at Benazir Bhutto and DHQ hospitals.

He said during the last 10 months, many important public health projects had been carried out across the province and they were now in the process of completion.

He later inspected the ongoing construction work on the first floor of the outdoor patient department at the BBH.

On this occasion, he said that the OPD was being upgraded at the BBH at a cost of Rs140 million. Meanwhile, the minister also visited the old and new blocks of HFH and reviewed the ongoing development and construction work there.

Officials of the building department while briefing the minister said the renovation work was going on rapidly.

They said 66 per cent of the work at the old block and 58pc of the project had been completed so far. The work on the new block was 41pc complete.

The revamping and renovation work at the HFH is underway at a cost of Rs1.75 billion. The work on biomedical gases has also been started in the hospital. Quality is being ensured in the upgradation work and compromise on the quality of work will be tolerated, said the minister.

He said work on the upgradation was going on 24 hours a day. The work on the old and new blocks of the hospital would be completed ahead of the schedule.

Published in Dawn, january 1st, 2024