RAWALPINDI, July 18: Punjab Health Department on Wednesday appointed two deputy medical superintendents at Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC), among reports that the centre would be inaugurated next month.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has also constituted four-member committee to hire doctors, nurses and para-medical staff for the RIC which will start interviews from July 20.  A total of 285 posts have been created for the institute by the provincial government – 60 doctors, 90 nurses, 40 para-medical staff and remaining posts for technicians.

The selection committee comprises of Commissioner Rawalpindi Imdadullah Bosal, Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) Principal Dr Mohammad Umer, Dr Shoaib Shafi and deputy secretary Punjab Health Department.

The newly appointed deputy medical superintendents are Dr Humayun Anwar and Dr Nasir Iqbal. The former has previously been working as Medical Officer at Khyaban-i-Sir-Syed rural health centre and the latter has served as district coordinator of national programmes in Attock.

Sources told Dawn on Wednesday that the posts were created to run outdoor-patients department (OPD) scheduled to be started from August 15. They said the chief minister was interested in inaugurating the RIC on August 14.

It may be mentioned here that Rs2.6 billion worth of RIC is two years behind its schedule of completion due to delayed release of funds by the provincial government.

The 270-bed institute project was approved in October 2009 and the construction work was started in June 2010. When contacted, RIC Medical Superintendent Dr Mohammad Shoaib said that 80 per cent of work had been completed while remaining work would be completed by the end of current month.—A Reporter