ISLAMABAD - At least five hospitals of the federal capital are going to be up-graded so as to make available modern preventive and curative health services for the residents.
According to the documents exclusively available with The Nation, the project to be executed by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination envisages to make available modern preventive and curative health services at the Islamabad hospitals as Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Federal Government Polyclinic (FGPC), Federal Government Hospital, National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM), and Capital Development Authority (CDA) Hospital. The major focus of the project is to provide healthcare facilities to the population at their doorstep. The goal of the project is to up-grade the secondary healthcare delivery system at the hospitals through provision of electro-medical equipment to provide critical medical care facilities. The project costing Rs 2165 million is likely to be completed by December 2021 as it has been submitted for consideration of the Central Development Working Party. Under the project, 16 new ambulances would also be provided to three Islamabad hospitals, 10 to Polyclinic, and three each to NIRM and FGH.
According to the documents, the expected output of the proposed project includes strengthening of the health system and enhancing diagnostic capacity by equipping health facilities with high-tech clinical management equipment and improving the diagnostic and testing capacity. The scope of the PC-I includes procurement of electro-medical equipment i.e. central monitoring system for 16 beds, Doppler electrocardiography, equipment for Cardiac Care Unit, digital X-Ray units with CR system, ultrasound and CT scan machines, dialysis machines, etc. According to the officials, the PC-I is responsive to the priorities for strengthening of core capacities of healthcare services to deal with Covid-19 pandemic and other health emergencies through provision of electro-medical equipment to the hospitals.
The documents said population in the catchment areas of the hospitals is around 2.2 million people with continuous potential migration threat from other provinces which is leading to worsening situation in the federal capital. 
The officials have categorised Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) for provision of Covid-19 treatment into ‘Red’ and ‘Green’ zones with 80 beds of PIMS, 275 beds of Isolation Hospital and Infectious Treatment Centre Islamabad and 300 beds of the CDA Hospital designated for Red Zone. The current scarcity of modern electro-medical equipment has lowered the capacity of healthcare system to provide effective, affordable and quality healthcare diagnostic facilities in the ICT. The officials believe that availability of modern treatment facilities at the hospital in the ICT will uplift the health and socio-economic status of the communities involved. The project aims to create opportunity for saving out-of-pocket expenditure incurred due to patients’ referrals and will benefit overall economic development of the country. According to the officials, the provision of electro-medical equipment through this project will address the issues of efficient health service delivery and help improve the health indicators of the underserved areas.