ISLAMABAD   -  The Balochistan government has set up an oxygen generation plant at Fatima Jinnah Chest and General Hospital Quetta to ensure the uninterrupted supply of the commodity in the wake of growing number of coronavirus cases.

The development was shared by Balochistan government’s spokesman Liaquat Shahwani through his twitter account on Sunday.

“At the moment, there is no shortage of oxygen at the provincial hospitals, but tender has been floated for establishment of an oxygen plant as a proactive measure,” read the tweet of Liaqaut Shahwani. The spokesman added that the plant would be fully operational within a month. He said that plant would serve as a major boost to oxygen availability in the hospital. Additional oxygen cylinders were being arranged to ensure safety of the coronavirus affected patients, he added.

Meanwhile the government has initiated a process for appointment of technical staff to operate the oxygen producing plant in the hospital.

80 pc construction work of Cardiac hospital Quetta completed

The Balochistan government is all set to complete 120-bed Quetta Cardiac Hospital within the stipulated time period as 80 per cent construction work has already been done, said a senior officer on Friday.

Talking to APP, he said the time frame set for completion of the hospital was January 2022 and it was expected that it would be fully functional by the start of next year as the government had already approved funds for procurement of required machinery. 

The officer said the project was initiated in 2019 after Prime Minister Imran Khan laid its foundation. The initiative was taken in collaboration with the government of United Arab Emirate (UAE). He added that it had capacity to treat hundreds of patients on daily basis.

The governmnet has also approved an amendment to the composition of the Board of Governors of the Cardiac Hospital Quetta and to rename the centre as Sheikh Salman bin Zayed Al Nahyan Institute of Cardiology.

He said currently, the cardiac patients were being referred to the different hospitals of the country, which was putting extra burden on those facilities and causing problem to the locals, as well.

He said the provincial government was striving to extend best healthcare facilities to the people at their doorstep.

The provincial government has upgraded eight district headquarters hospitals to teaching level hospitals in order to ensure provision of best healthcare facilities to the masses.

He said a cardiology center would also be established in every teaching hospitals of the province.