RAWALPINDI: The renovation cost of Holy Family Hospital (HFH) has escalated for the second time in last five months by Rs700 million.

The project to reconstruct the old and new block of Holy Family Hospital started in October last year with an estimated cost of Rs1.1 billion, which escalated to Rs3.024 billion in January.

Now, the Communication and Works Department has demanded another Rs700 million.

“Work had been slow in the last two weeks, however, it recently picked up pace and now 72pc work has been completed,” the senior official of Communication and Works Department told Dawn.

He said the hospital’s old block had been renovated while work in the new block is going to complete by the end of next month.

“There is no shortage of funds as we have received almost Rs2.548 billion, which have been utilised 100pc,” he said.

The official said 93pc work on ground and first floor of the new block had been completed and 34pc in the basement. He said remaining work would take another month to complete.

Punjab Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique had asked the Communication and Works Department to complete work by March 31 and make operation theatres of the hospital functional before Eidul Fitr.

The senior official said the department had informed the health minister that work would be completed by the end of April and another Rs700 million would be required to make the operation theatres functional.

He said the provincial government wanted to complete work as soon as possible as the patients were suffering due to closure of the biggest hospital of the garrison city for the last five months.

Patients in the garrison city are suffering as Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital had already been facing a shortage of beds.

A senior doctor of Benazir Bhutto Hospital told Dawn that due to closure of HFH, the BBH was overburdened.

He said that due to rush, the hospital administration has asked the patients in surgery department to make arrangements for the medicines as there was no mechanism to arrange the medicines for extra patients.

Abdul Ghani, a patient at the District Headquarters Hospital, said that he visited the hospital and got medical treatment after waiting for four hours for his turn. He said that there was a rush in the hospital due to closure of HFH.

Holy Family Hospital has a total area of 672,000 square feet. The number of beds in the hospital wards is 1,030 whereas 2,161 patients reported in the OPD, 228 in wards and 915 in emergency on a daily basis.

The old block of the hospital will be renovated in the first phase while the second phase will include the renovation of the new OPD and the indoor block.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2024