HFH unable to operate new block

Rawalpindi : The New Block of Holy Family Hospital could not be made operational even after the passage of eight-and-a-half months and the Communication and Works Department of the Government of the Punjab has yet to finalize revamping work, the strategic transformation of the hospital.

The administration of Holy Family Hospital is unable to take over the New Block of the hospital from the building department as a number of construction works are yet to be done to make the new block operational, said Medical Superintendent at HFH Dr. Ijaz Butt while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday.

He said the hospital administration has started shifting furniture to the ground and the first floor of the new block where the construction work has almost been finalized but few works in the basement and the second floor of the new block are needed to be done urgently for shifting. It is hardly possible to serve patients in an under construction building, he said.

It is important that the revamping of the new block could not be finalized even after eight-and-a-half months. The HFH, the biggest public sector tertiary care hospital in Rawalpindi division, had stopped receiving patients in the third week of October last year and the work for strategic transformation/rev­amping of HFH was started on October 22.

Initially, February 22 has been given as the deadline for the completion of revamping that was changed to March 31 this year and then in the first week of April, the new deadline has been set as May 20 by the C & W department.

Principal Rawalpindi Medical College and In-charge Allied Hospitals Professor Dr. Jahangir Sarwar Khan informed ‘The News’ that after May 20 this year, June 30 has been given as the completion date for the revamping work by the CM Punjab but still about 25 per cent of the work is pending in the basement and second floor. He added the construction work on the ground and the first floor of the new block has almost been completed.

Dr. Butt has written a letter to the Executive Engineer of Building Department Division I, Rawalpindi on Friday requesting him to complete the required construction related works urgently so that the hospital can be made operational. The electric supply of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in all operation theatres and emergency has not been finalized, he said.

He added that he asked the building department to finalize commissioning and testing of bio medical gases and complete work related to drainage of installed air conditioners in the emergency department and OPD. The hospital administration has requested the building department to remove building debris from the parking areas and the sewerage lines and ensure proper functioning of all washrooms in the new block before handing over the building to the HFH, said Dr. Butt.

To a query, he said the hospital would be able to make the new block of the HFH operational within 10 to 12 days after its handing over to the hospital administration. I hope that the building department will finalize the required construction work on the new block within the next week, he said. It is important that at present, only two departments of the

HFH – Gynaecology and Obstetrics Department and Paediatrics Department – are operational in the Old Block of the hospital.