RAWALPINDI, June 13: The Punjab government has given the under-construction girls’ hostel of Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) at Rawal Road to Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) to accommodate its doctors.

It was decided in a meeting held on the RMC premises under the chairmanship of Provincial Secretary Health Capt. (retired) Arif Nadeem. The meeting was attended by Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Imdadullah Bosal, RMC Principal Dr. Mussadiq Khan, Executive District Officer (EDO) Health Dr. Zafar Iqbal Gondal and other senior officials of district administration and RMC.

Sources privy to the meeting told Dawn that the provincial government missed another deadline of June 30 to start its much-hyped Rs2.6 billion project of Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC). Now July 15 was set for making the RIC functional due to the late arrival of machinery and delay in the recruitment of doctors and staff to man the hospital.

They said that the recruitment would start soon however, the provincial health department recommended that RMC Principal Dr. Mussadiq Khan should be appointed as acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the institute.

However, the sources said that the provincial government was negotiating with a general, who had recently retired from Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC), for this post. They said if the retired general was appointed as CEO of the institute, the Punjab government would go against its own decision that the government job would not be given to any retired army officer.

They said that the provincial government had set the deadline to start the hospital from June 30 but it failed to recruit the staff.

They said that Provincial Secretary Health Capt. (retired) Arif Nadeem asked the RMC administration that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had vacated the building of RMC girls’ hostel and there was no logic that the RMC should be given under-construction hostel building adjacent to RIC.

They said that the secretary health directed the district building department to make proper arrangements for separate accommodations of female and male doctors in the under-construction hostel and also directed to complete the work within three weeks.

During the meeting, it was decided that the Outdoor Patients Department (OPD) would start working from July 15 and admission of patients would start in August. The sources said that apparently it would be difficult to meet the new deadline as there was a lot of construction work pending in the hospital including laying of sewerage lines, entrance gate, fixture of machinery as it would take more than three months.

Meanwhile, Secretary Health Arif Nadeem also chaired the meeting of Board of Management of Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC). He instructed the RMC principal to improve the fire safety measures in the three government-run hospitals.

He informed the board that the provincial government would provide one C.T. Scan machine for Rawalpindi’s hospitals.

He said that the RMC administration demanded two C.T. Scan machines and a MRI machine but the funds were not available to meet all the demands.

The secretary health directed the allied hospitals to improve the services for the general patients. He said that the provincial health department would take strict action against the doctors who did not behave well with the patients and found negligent in providing healthcare facilities to the people.