KARACHI:The construction work on 400-bed Sindh Government Gulshan e Iqbal Hospital has been halted by the Works and Services Department of Sindh Government for past several months due to unknown reasons.
Reliable sources at Sindh Health Department told PPI that the construction work on 400-bed Sindh Govt Gulshan e Iqbal Hospital, Karachi, was started in May 19, 2009 with cost of Rs436.356million which was supposed to be completed 2012-13 but PC-I of project was revised on May 15, 2014 again with increased cost of Rs1736.359million.
The project was supposed to be completed by the end of 2016 but only 70 per cent work could be done so far due as Works and Services Department has temporarily halted work at project site for last several months.
The ground plus three stories building of hospital has been divided in several blocks.
The construction work of Block-A and Block-B and Block-C was almost completed. However, construction work of Block-D, Block-E and administrative block was temporarily halted by the department concerned.
Ex-provincial minister health Sindh Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar had given December 2016 as deadline to the contractor for completion of the project during his tenure but the work is yet to be completed.
The high-ups of Sindh health department had also decided to convert this general hospital into Institute Of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation after completion of the project but now construction work at project site is in limbo.
Additional Chief Secretary Health Dr Usman Chachar was not available for comment.