LAHORE, Oct 16: Over Rs700 million donated by philanthropists for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Swat have been lying unused in the account of Punjab Trust for the last three years or so, while the Punjab rulers have been toying with a proposal to build a kidney hospital in Swat with the unused amount, Dawn has learnt.
Collected from industrialists, health and education institutions, traders, businessmen etc, the amount was initially to be spent on providing prompt relief to the IDPs, a senior official told Dawn requesting anonymity.
He said the Punjab Trust board of trustees was entrusted with the task of helping IDPs after military operation in Swat and Senator Ishaq Dar was made its chairman.
However, the board failed to use even a single rupee from the donations while a majority of the IDPs has returned to their native places after normalcy returned to these areas following the army operation.
He said later Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced the provincial government would use the amount for construction of a hospital in Swat as a ‘gift to the people of Swat from the people of Punjab’.
Pakistan Muslim League-N President Nawaz Sharif also announced in June 2012 while addressing a rally that a kidney hospital would be established in Swat at a cost of Rs760 million.
The official said the board of trustees had met several times under the chairmanship of Senator Ishaq Dar but came with no concrete decision, as neither the construction of the hospital had started so far nor any other project was launched in Swat utilising the amount.
He said the board of trustees has now decided to name the proposed health facility in Swat as ‘Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital Swat’ in violation of its charter.
He said the decision of naming the hospital after the PML-N president was taken at the board’s recent meeting held at Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Oct 13.
Again chaired by Senator Dar, the meeting was attended by Planning and Development chairman, secretaries of Punjab health and finance departments, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health secretary, Swat DCO, Malakand commissioner and other board members.
Finance Secretary Tariq Bajwa told Dawn the board trustees finally decided to establish the long-awaited 100-bed kidney hospital in Swat at a cost of Rs600 million within 15 months.
He said though a proposal regarding naming the hospital after a ‘political figure’ was discussed, no final decision was taken at the meeting.
Doctors Hospital Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Javed Asghar said the construction of the proposed hospital in Swat was mainly delayed owing to some administrative and legal issues. He said the project was to be executed with the funds collected from philanthropists and not a single penny was to be taken form the Punjab government for the purpose.
A source said a similar claim of establishing a hospital in Swat ‘in a record period of 18 months’ was made in a Board meeting held in April 2010.
The meeting had taken several decisions like registration of Punjab Trust, transfer of funds to the trust, transfer of land from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to the Punjab Trust and preparation of architectural design of the hospital building.