prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on Thursday, inaugurated Pakistan-China Friendship Hospital, which will go a long way in improving healthcare services in the federal capital, relieving pressure on the existing medical facilities especially Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and Polyclinic as well as offering another quality medical facility to patients from the neighbouring regions. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, he announced the Government will bear 100% of treatment costs for patients at the hospital and pledged to ensure that no one is deprived of medical care because of financial constraints.
The Prime Minister and Federal Minister for National Health Services Syed Mustafa Kamal must be appreciated for reviving a dormant facility through public-private partnership. The Pak-China Friendship Hospital Islamabad (originally built as the Isolation Hospital and Infectious Treatment Centre) has a history marked by rapid construction during the pandemic, years of being underutilized and its recent revival as a full-service public-private facility. It was built through Chinese assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic to treat coronavirus and infectious disease patients. It was constructed at a cost of about one billion rupees and spread over an area of 40 kanal but regrettably fell into neglect after the pandemic subsided. At the instance of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Health initiated the process of its restoration and signed an agreement with the Indus Hospital and Health Network to manage and operate the hospital whereas the Government will bear the cost of treatment of patients. The 160-bed facility has the capacity to handle two hundred thousand patients annually and will serve patients from Islamabad and Rawalpindi, as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country. The Government has also done well by ordering a third-party performance audit to ensure transparency, accountability and high standards of healthcare delivery. This is important in view of the bitter reality of corruption and dismal performance of public sector schools, which have been handed over to the private sector.
