Outpatient department of Benazir Bhutto Hospital being upgraded

Rawalpindi

The administration of Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) is developing more waiting areas for patients visiting its outpatient department where they had to suffer badly because of shortage of space and lack of facilities, including washrooms.

The OPD building is being renovated under an annual development programme scheme approved this year for uplifting of hospital building with a budgetary allocation amounting to Rs99 million.

It is important that the BBH OPD receives as many as 1,600 to 1,800 patients daily on average while the OPD building had seating capacity for not more than 400 patients in its waiting areas. Hundreds of patients had to stand in corridors of the OPD building for hours while waiting for their turn for check-up.

With the heavy influx of patients at the BBH OPD daily, the space particularly its corridors becomes too crowded and congested causing difficulties for hundreds of patients including women and children accompanying their mothers.

Electric and sanitary work to update washrooms for patients in the OPD has almost been completed under the renovation scheme while development of more waiting areas in the OPD and outside its building, in open space, is being carried out, said Medical Superintendent at BBH Dr. Asif Qadir Mir while talking to ‘The News’ on Monday.

He said the hospital has planned to install seats in the corridors of the OPD building to increase seating capacity for patients while open space outside OPD would also be used to develop additional waiting areas.

He said the OPD receives 1,600 to 1,800 patients daily and the waiting areas after extension would be able to accommodate nearly 700 patients. The hospital administration is working on providing good environment to patients visiting OPD and for that additional space would also be created in front of the OPD building, he said.

He added that the old canteen for general public has been removed and public toilets developed in front of OPD building are also being removed. The vacated space would be used for developing more waiting areas for patients and their attendants, said Dr. Mir.

He said wards of various departments operating on first floor of the OPD building would also be renovated under the scheme while work for uplifting face of the building has already been started.

The hospital is working on providing adequate facilities of clean drinking water and toilets to patients visiting OPD, said Dr. Mir.