PM approves hospital project for Murree

ISLAMABAD: After years of neglect at the hands of local representatives, the residents of Pakistan’s most popular hill station will finally get a state-of-the-art tertiary care hospital as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has accorded approval for the project.
Sources said during his visit to Murree last week, the prime minister also promised to upgrade Lawrence College Murree to the level of a university to provide higher education to the people of rural areas.
The Prime Minister took both these decisions on the complaint of a local resident while two powerful local representatives never conveyed this most urgent problem of the residents to the prime minister. The local MNA, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, is federal minister for petroleum and natural resources while the MPA, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, is provincial minister for manpower and labour.
Sources said Prime Minister while chairing a high-level meeting directed the officials to choose a suitable location for the hospital.“Both the federal and the Punjab governments will provide funding for the hospital,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.
The hospital will be equipped with all the modern facilities for the poor patients of the area, he added.Later while talking to local people the prime minister also promised to establish a university in the area. Sources said the government is also thinking of converting the TB Sanatorium Samli into a teaching hospital.
The residents of Murree complained that dozens of patients needing urgent medical attention die each year while being transported to hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. They lamented the apathy of their political representatives towards issues concerning health and education.
They said the absence of hospital and education facilities have always been a major issue of the area but our representatives don’t pay attention to these issues once they get themselves elected. These people have been representing us for last 25 years but our problems remain unresolved.
When contacted Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the local representatives are aware of the problems of their voters. He said the issue of hospital had been discussed earlier with the higher authorities but land was not available for the project. We selected two sites for the hospital but experts rejected them, as the area is prone to land sliding. The minister said now two other sites are being considered for the upgraded Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) hospital.