New hospitals under public-private partnership mode will be constructed in the province to provide best healthcare facilities to the people. The first such hospital, having a 500-bed capacity, would be set up in Johar Town area, said Minister for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Salman Rafique at a road show arranged by the Punjab Health Initiative Management Company (PHIMC) at a local hotel on Friday. He said setting up big hospitals through public-private partnership mode had been a successful model in other countries. “This is a new concept in Pakistan. In Turkey, an investment of $16 billion has been made in the health sector under this mode. Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department Secretary Najam Shah said all the queries and questions of the participants in the road show besides stakeholders would be addressed and complete transparency would be ensured in this process. He said the initiative had been taken to achieve the target to provide quality health services to the masses for which all the resources were being utilised. PHIMC Chief Executive Zaheer Abbas said 40 kanals at a prime location in Johar Town had been allocated for the 500-bed hospital on the BOT (built, operate and transfer) mode. All the procedural requirements for the purpose would be fulfilled and the interested firms or companies would be prequalified, he said.
