Secretary Health Punjab, who is also Secretary of the Board of Trustees of Punjab Hospital Trust Arif Nadeem said that Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital to be constructed through the donations of philanthropists of Punjab in Swat; it would prove to be a memorable gift for people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province from the people of Punjab, which will benefit in a great deal millions of people especially poor patients living in the area.
Arif Nadeem said here on Friday that for the construction of state-of-the-art hospital for the earthquake affected persons of Swat, Punjab Hospital Trust was registered in June 2010, in which the people of Punjab and Philanthropists gave their donations out of which the biggest donation was from the Chairman of the Trust, Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar, worth Rs 50 million.
He said in the beginning there was a plan to construct a general hospital in Swat, whose plan and paper work had been completed; however, the members of the Trust belonging to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa requested in August 2011 that instead of a general hospital a Kidney hospital should be constructed, whereas this proposal was unanimously approved by all members of the Trust.
Secretary Health further said that during the last week in a Board of Trustees' meeting held under the chairmanship of Senator Ishaq Dar, approval was granted for awarding contract of the construction of the hospital. He said during the meeting of Board of Trustees unanimous approval was granted to name the hospital as "Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital".
Arif said that initial ground work has been initiated at the hospital site in Swat; however, it would be formally inaugurated after Eid-ul-Azha. He said the estimate cost of construction of this hospital has been put at Rs 600 million out of which the building structure of the hospital would be completed at a cost of Rs 230 million. He hoped that the construction of the hospital would be completed within 15 months. Arif Nadeem informed that Senator Ishaq Dar taking personal interest in ensuring expeditious completion of the hospital project due to which the process of transfer the proposed land of the hospital to the Trust, its technical survey, soil testing, structural drawings, earthquake proof designing, short listing of the contractor and other related significant work has been completed expeditiously.