Islamabad - Either a medical city of 2,000 beds or four hospitals of 500 beds each are proposed to be built in Islamabad.

Minister of State for Capital Administration & Development Division (CA&DD), Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said this yesterday while talking to media persons after inauguration of hostel for female doctors in Federal Government Services Polyclinic Hospital.

The minister yesterday announced that health reforms for Islamabad under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s vision have been started on the same lines as those of education reforms programme.

He said the proposed plan of building either a medical city of 2,000 beds or four hospitals of 500 beds each would be finalised after formal approval of the PM.

Until the conditions and medical facilities in basic health units (BHU) are not improved, the pressure on main hospitals will remain high, he said. He added that all basic health facilities including treatment of minor surgeries would be provided in BHUs so that only patients for tertiary care should be referred to main hospitals.

Dr Fazal said the new emergencies in Polyclinic and PIMS Hospitals will be completed soon and the conditions of wards and OPDs will also be improved by providing better medical facilities and qualified doctors. He said that PM Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Sharif have been taking keen interest for the development of Islamabad as a model city.

The new hostel building for female doctors was completed six months back and furniture was also acquired but it could not be inaugurated. The three-storey building has 40 spacious rooms wherein two doctors in each room can easily be accommodated, said Dr Raja Amjad, Executive Director of Polyclinic.

He said the preparations for extension project of Polyclinic on Argentina Park land have been completed and the land has been acquired from Capital Development Authority (CDA) for this purpose.

He said the hospitals of federal capital are overloaded as the patients belong to various parts of the country prefer to move here due to lack of health facilities in their respective cities.

He said a new emergency comprising of 25 beds has been set up in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) at the cost of Rs 15 million that was received in donation.

The new OPD Block would be constructed soon in the same hospital, he added. The minister said the old emergency of PIMS, and Polyclinic’s OPD and Emergency were also being up graded.

He said after introducing laws by Establishment Division, a permanent executive director could be appointed in Polyclinic as currently no laws exist in this regard.

To a question, Tariq Fazal Chaudhary admitted that the Directorate of Enforcement CDA didn’t have the capacity to stop encroachment practice in capital.

He said the government has decided to set up a special force comprising 400 personnel to effectively take action against encroachers in the city.

To another question, the minister said local body representatives would be given authority under the Act introduced by the Parliament. He said the interior ministry has constituted a committee for transfer of powers to local body set up.