All state-run hospitals in the capital were alerted and put under strict surveillance,  security sources said- AP Photo

ISLAMABAD, June 30: The security situation in the capital has not just resulted in road blocks and barriers but also the barricading of medical treatment.

Nescom Hospital, affiliated with the Pakistan army's Strategic Planning Division, has stopped providing treatment to private patients because of fear of security threats.

A senior official of Nescom administration, on the condition of anonymity, told Dawn that an intelligence agency had asked Nescom not to take in private patients, citing the prevailing security situation and threats as the reason. It is feared that militants may target the hospital, viewing it as a military installation.

Consequently, the hospital has closed its doors on civilians and private patients who preferred the hospital for treatment because of its low in-patient fee of Rs800.

Another official explained that the military-run hospital was exclusively for the employees of the departments operating under the Strategic Planning Division. He, however, conceded that until last month the hospital's Out Patient Department, Emergency Ward and doctors allowed private practice were entertaining private patients. About 200 such patients reported to the hospital daily.

Before closing the health facility to the ordinary people, the administration considered the possible impact on private patients and concluded that they could go to other state-run-hospitals such as the Social Services Hospital in Islamabad and the Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi, the official said.

But he admitted that the Nescom hospital had some specialists that other hospitals in the twin cities did not have and that the patients under their treatment may suffer.

The broad road on which Nescom hospital is situated was barricaded two years ago for safety reasons.

Security officials pointed out that security threats to hospitals were not empty threats.

In May, intelligence agencies had intercepted a conversation between two callers discussing the possibility of a suicide bomber reaching the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

Another conversation was intercepted in which an attack on the Federal Government Services Hospital was the subject.

All state-run hospitals in the capital were alerted and put under strict surveillance as a result, the security sources said.