New Emergency Block at BBH to be operational in two months

Rawalpindi
Punjab Health Secretary Jawad Rafiq paid a surprise visit to Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) here on Wednesday to witness the newly-constructed building of a new block in emergency department of the hospital.
The secretary discussed issues related to the functioning of the new block with BBH Medical Superintendent Dr. Asif Qadir Mir and assured the hospital administration of his maximum possible support in making the extension of the existing emergency department functional at the earliest.
The new block having 25 beds capacity has been constructed after renovation of a part of old building of BBH emergency department that was demolished under Metro Bus Project last year. After getting functional, the new block would enhance the overall capacity of the BBH emergency department from 50 beds to 75 beds.
The Punjab health secretary ensured the hospital administration that he would take up the case of sanctioning of staff and equipment seriously for running the new block at the BBH emergency department, said Dr. Mir while talking to ‘The News’ on Wednesday.
He said the hospital administration has already requested the provincial government to provide staff and equipment required to make the extension of the existing emergency department functional.
It is worth mentioning here that the provincial government occupied a portion of space owned by the BBH for construction of Metro Bus Project last year and at that time, the BBH and Rawalpindi Medical College administration requested the Punjab chief minister to direct the concerned authorities to refurbish the portion of the building of the hospital that was demolished under Metro Bus Project.
Dr Mir said that the new block of emergency department would be operational within next two months. “I hope the provincial government would provide us necessary staff and logistics including equipment within next two months,” he added.
He said the new emergency block would be utilised to deal with orthopaedic and surgical cases taken to the hospital in emergency while the existing 50-bed emergency department would continue to serve patients except for orthopaedic and surgical cases. It is important that the existing emergency block has a 15-bed ward to deal with cases of gynaecology department.
To a query, Dr. Mir said the hospital administration has requested the provincial government to provide equipment for establishing at least two new operation theatres at the new block. At present, the BBH emergency department has a total of three operation theatres which have been overburdened because of heavy influx of patients.