ISLAMABAD: The incumbent government’s plan to build a state-of-the-art 500-bed cancer hospital in Islamabad has been in doldrums, as no decision about it is yet to be taken despite the government entering the final year of its tenure.
The government pledged that a cancer hospital at the level of Shaukat Khannum Cancer Hospital would be constructed in Islamabad to provide the best health services to the people of the twin cities Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
However, the government has yet to take any decision in this regard despite the lapse of several years.
A senior official in the health ministry wishing anonymity told Pakistan Today that all these announcements were just for public consumption as the government never gave any serious thought to the much-needed project.
He said that the seriousness of the government in this regard could be judged from the fact that no allocation has been made for the project in the current fiscal year.
“The government virtually dropped the plan of building a separate 500-bed cancer hospital in the metropolitan,” the official added.
Senior ministers at various occasions repeatedly pledged that the government would construct a cancer hospital. Even the State Minister for National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar once during a question hour in Senate stated that a 500-bed modern cancer hospital would be constructed in Islamabad.
She said that the feasibility report of the hospital has been completed and would be built at the cost of Rs 21 billion.
She said that Rs 300 million had been allocated for the financial year 2016-17. However, she said the site of construction of the health facility had not been finalised, adding that a 20 to 25-acre land was required for a standalone cancer hospital for which CDA chairman had been requested to provide the land at a suitable place.
When this scribe approached, Health Secretary Muhammad Ayub Shaikh confirmed that no decision about the hospital’s fate has been taken so far; however, the plan is very much there and the hospital would soon be built.
He said that a meeting of the planning commission, energy commission, health ministry, Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) and PIMS is scheduled for next Monday where the final decision would be taken in this regard.
He said that a decision about whether the cancer hospital would be constructed at a separate plot or in the premises of PIMS will also be taken in the meeting.
