ISLAMABAD, Dec 25: Three dispensaries in Islamabad, which have been lying unutilized for years, are being upgraded to provide healthcare facilities to the localities and lessen burden on the two major federal government hospitals.

Besides, a 50-bed hospital will be established at the National Institute of Health (NIH) to cater to the people of Chak Shahzad and those in the peripheries of the federal capital, Secretary Health Anwar Mehmood told reporters here on Saturday.

He unfolded a number of development schemes in the health sector including creation of a thalassaemia centre at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

There are 26 dispensaries in different sectors of Islamabad, but they are not known even to the residents of the localities due to under-utilization, he said.

Both the Federal Government Services Hospital (FGSH) and Pims, originally planned as tertiary-level referral hospitals, have now been converted into general hospitals due to the overburdening as they have to cater to a large number of population from Jhelum to Azad Kashmir, the official added.

Initially, three dispensaries in Sectors G-6/3-4, G-6/1-4 (near Aabpara) and I-8 have been identified which would provide routine healthcare facilities to patients, especially government servants.

The G-6/3-4 dispensary, which originally had a provision of 20-bed hospital but later abandoned, would now be converted into a hospital.

Similarly, the dispensary at sector G-6/1-4 would be converted into a 45-bed mother-care hospital having a general OPD and a gynaecology unit.

A small hospital would also be constructed in sector I-8 in a temporary rented building. The Capital Development Authority (CDA) had earlier sanctioned a plot for the hospital, but later cancelled it after the ministry of health did not release the payments.

The secretary said he had again requested the CDA to restore the allotment for construction of the hospital.

The dispensaries, which used to close at 1pm would now remain open till 9:30pm, and start functioning from January except the one in sector I-8.

In the next phase, he added, these healthcare facilities would function round the clock. All the centres would be equipped with latest diagnostic facilities. Both general practitioners as well as specialist doctors would sit in the dispensaries.

A feasibility is also being devised for budgetary allocations to meet the recurring cost of the hospitals.

To provide healthcare in the peripheries, the NIH which was converted into an allergy centre though it had a provision of 50- bed hospital in its original plan would start working within the next six months. The NIH hospital would work as a satellite unit of Pims.

He also announced setting up of an independent federal ambulance service with 20 to 25 well-equipped and state-of-the- art ambulances under a common pool. The unit would be established at a central place while its services would be available to both the major hospitals.

The government is also revising the career structure of doctors and a meeting of the special commission set up on the directives of the prime minister would be called next week.

Doctors are also being recruited to fill existing over 100 posts in different hospitals, he added.