Punjab Govt Hospital Roadshow Gets Big Response From Private Sector

Second road show of Punjab Government for 500-bed state-of-the-art General Hospital in Lahore was successfully held here at a hotel on Monday; which was participated by lenders, investors and operators

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Oct, 2017 ) :Second road show of Punjab Government for 500-bed state-of-the-art General Hospital in Lahore was successfully held here at a hotel on Monday; which was participated by lenders, investors and operators.

The first road-show was held in Lahore, and next road shows will be held in Abu Dhabi and Turkey in the first week of November, 2017, said Chief Operating Officer of PHIMC, Zaheer Abbas Malik while speaking of the salient features of the project.

He said this mega project in health sector was being launched in Johar Town of Lahore under the umbrella of Punjab Health Initiative Management Company (PHIMC) as public-private partnership project.

It is the first-ever Greenfield Hospital Project in the country that will be executed under build, operate and transfer (BOT) agreement with concessionary period of 30 years, in addition to the agreed construction period.

Through these road-shows, he said, Punjab Government was searching local and foreign investors as the partners to design, finance and build as per applicable standards, and then operate as a commercial entity, maintain and transfer the health facility to the government after 30 years.

Punjab Government will provide 40 acres of land in Johar Town near Emporium Mall, along with all the required facilities and infrastructure. PHIMC would also guarantee to the private sector partner company a capacity payment against the use of 200 beds.

Such services on " take or pay" basis over the span of concession period would cover the cost for the government sponsored patients.

PHIMC might assist the private sector in securing finance from financial institutions by directly entering financing agreement with the lenders along with the private sector company, he said.

He said the private sector party , keeping in view the demand and supply dynamics, might propose a construction of larger hospital up to 800 beds capacity. Malik said the pre-qualification document (POD) was issued/uploaded on October 13, 2017 and November 16, 2017 had been fixed as the last date for submission of pre-qualification proposals.

He was satisfied over the response from private sector as 134 companies had down-loaded the POD till date, and more local and foreign investors were expected to respond. Punjab Secretary Health Najam Ahmed Shah assured that the investors' rights would be remain secured and that Punjab Government had the best legal system.

He said public-private partnership was the only solution to bridge the gap in demand and supply of health facilities in the country. He said other provinces also should follow the suit of Punjab Government and come up with such models.

Partnering with private sector local and foreign companies- was necessary as the governments had limited resources and lacked the required skills. He said after implementation of this project, Punjab Government would bring more such projects at the Division level and then down to the Districts level to cover the entire population of the province ; especially the poor.