LAHORE: The Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education (SHC&ME) Department has surrendered millions of rupees over non-utilisation of funds provided for completion of under-construction mega projects in the first quarter of current financial year.
A well-informed source privy to this development told Daily Times that a letter was issued by the SHC&ME secretary, stating that the government had floated an idea to establish a cancer treatment facility keeping in mind the increasing number of cancer patients. He said highly expensive facility required government funds, infrastructure and human resource to meet the growing challenges, adding that the number of patients suffering from cancer-related diseases was increasing day-by-day and every year more than 162,000 new patients were diagnosed with cancer in Punjab.
He said the province was in dire need to have a cancer hospital and the government in this regard allocated Rs 2.172 million for current financial year. Surprisingly, he added, all allocated funds for the construction of newly proposed hospital were now surrendered without utilisation. “It seems that the provincial government does not want to start construction of the building of cancer hospital,” he remarked.
The provincial government allocated Rs 90.408 million for upgradation of Government Ghulam Muhammadabad Hospital, Faisalabad, but the SHC&ME Department returned Rs 15 million to the finance department over non-utilisation of development funds. Similarly, implementation of master plan in Lahore General Hospital, Phase-III, was under-construction for ten years and required Rs 1 billion to become fully operational, but the provincial government allocated only Rs 58.411 for this much-awaited project. Surprisingly, Rs 26 million out of the total was returned to the government over non-utilisation.
A sum of Rs 5.274 million was allocated for the construction of new emergency block at Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), Lahore, but Rs 1 million out of the total was surrendered before the finance department. For establishment of Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS), Lahore, Rs 51.050 were allocated for current FY 2016-17, but Rs 28.647 out of the total were not utilised. Rs 0.952 million for upgradation of Institute of Public Health (IPH) were also surrendered before the finance department.
According to the source, the finance department diverted all surrendered funds of Rs 73.771 million to the under-construction children hospital in Faisalabad.