The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hosted the groundbreaking ceremony for the nation’s first public cancer hospital on Sunday. The hospital is expected to cost Rs. 10.8 billion and be finished in June 2025.
The four storey, 200-bed hospital will also include a 49,000 square foot basement. The structure will have an emergency room, male and female wards, a gynecology ward, a blood cancer ward, as well as a number of other departments.
Cancer Hospital Cost
According to project director Dr. Ayesha Isani, a public health PhD candidate, the project will cost approximately Rs. 10.8 billion, of which Rs. 3.4 billion will be used to build the structure and Rs. 7.4 billion to buy equipment.
“Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel and his team fully support the initiative to turn the project into a reality for the people of Pakistan. Also, there was immense support from Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal…,” Dr. Ayesha Isani said. She said there will be a provision in the foundation for the expansion of the hospital.
“The project will include comprehensive cancer treatment facilities, including radiology, pathology, oncosurgery, medical oncology, ICU, and emergency care for cancer patients, genetics and research,” she said.
The PC-I for the program, according to a Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) representative, was approved in February 2018. The CDWP authorized the project for the hospital building’s construction, which will cost Rs. 1.99 billion in total for civil works only.
“Authorization by the Ministry of Planning was given on March 2, 2018. The defunct Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division issued administrative approval on June 21, 2018.
Accordingly, funds amounting to Rs265 million were allocated during the financial year 2018-19, but not released. The project was then subsequently shelved by the task force on health,” he said.
“The subject scheme was funded during the financial year 2022-23 with an allocation of Rs250 million. The project is planned to be executed in two phases. The scope of work for Phase-I is civil works and electrical works. Phase-II will include procurement of medical equipment, hospital furniture, ambulances, and office furniture.”
At its meeting on February 6, 2023, the CDWP accepted the amended PC-I titled “Establishment of Cancer Hospital in Islamabad (Revised)” with a budget of Rs 3.406 billion.
According to him, the PWD will carry out the work, which it began in April 2023 with the intention of completing the infrastructure by the project’s deadline.
“Phase-II has been submitted to the planning ministry and has been approved in principle and the authorization is awaited so that the plant and machinery component could be installed phase-wise along with the infrastructure,” he said.
Speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony, Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel said that the treatment of cancer was the most expensive in Pakistan and claimed that “some people politicized” the project.
Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel said that when he took charge of the ministry, PIMS employees were on strike because the hospital was privatized by the PTI government. “However, we restored the status of PIMS and have been doing health reforms,” he said.
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