RAWALPINDI: Interim Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi has directed that upgradation work at Holy Family Hospital (HFH) should be completed within the stipulated time of three months and during this period preventive measures should be taken to safeguard the equipment and machinery.

The caretaker chief minister inspected the ongoing construction activities in the old building, OPD and various wards of the hospital. He alsovisited the basement, ground and first floors.

Mr Naqvi ordered that an appropriate drainage arrangement should be made in the basement while the waiting area should be further expanded.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said: `I acquire awareness from ground realities by visiting the hospitals.

The caretaker chief minister was also given a briefing about the progress being made on the upgradation work.

He also visited Benazir Bhutto Hospital late Fridaynight and reviewed medical facilities being provided to the patients in the emergency block.

Mr Naqvi inspected various wards, met the duty doctors andinquired afterthehealthof patients. He ordered immediate shifting of almirahs placed in the corridor of the emergency block at an appropriate place.

Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha, BBH Medical Superintendent Dr Tahir Rizvi, Rawalpindi Medical University Principal Prof Dr Jahangir Sarwar and relevant officials were also present on the occa-sion.

Meanwhile, the District Health Authority is reluctant to provide proper space to Holy Family Hospital`s infectious diseases department to accommodate dengue patients.

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that the Punjab caretaker government wanted to accommodate dengue patients in the Red Crescent Hospital but the District Health Authority only allocated the basement of the hospital.

The official said the District Health Authority had already given the hospital`s building fortheLocalHepatitisElimination and Prevention (LHEAP) programme, which could have been adjusted elsewhere.

`The management of the programme failed to arrange its own building or share the rooms in the District Health Authority offices in Khayabani-Sir Syed where it had to conducts tests of the residents living in the area`s two union councils,` the official said.

On the other hand, senior HFH doctors were of the view that the building should be provided to the hospital to set up emergency and dengue wards for the next three months.