Chak Shahzad's 250-bed hospital ready to receive patients
The facility, formerly called Margalla Hospital, has been renamed Pak-China Friendship Hospital to acknowledge Chinese funding for its construction.
A 250-bed hospital in Chak Shahzad is ready to receive patients and has been renamed the Pak-China Friendship Hospital in recognition of China's financial contribution to its construction, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported on Tuesday.
The facility was previously named Margalla Hospital, APP said, quoting official sources. The state news agency described the step as the point at which the completed building moves into use, and said the hospital is meant to improve access to medical services in Islamabad and the surrounding areas.
The report did not say when outpatient services would start, which departments would open first, how many staff the hospital will employ, or when a formal inauguration is planned. It also gave no figure for China's contribution, the total cost of construction, the contractor or the completion date.
Chak Shahzad lies on the southern side of the capital, outside the central sectors where Islamabad's largest public hospitals are located. The new facility is the latest in a series of health projects in Pakistan built with Chinese assistance and named after the two countries' friendship.
Renaming public institutions after China is established practice in Pakistan, where Chinese funding has supported roads, power plants and hospitals. The APP report framed the change as an acknowledgement of Beijing's financing rather than a change of ownership or administration, and gave no indication that the hospital's management would be transferred.
Officials quoted by APP did not elaborate on the hospital's equipment, its referral arrangements with other Islamabad hospitals, or whether treatment would be free or charged. Those details are typically announced closer to the start of admissions.
With the building declared ready, attention turns to staffing and supply, the parts of a hospital project that usually determine how quickly beds can actually be filled. No timeline was given for that process in the report carried by the state news agency.
A separate report carried by ProPakistani on the same day concerned a different institution, the Sindh Government Services Hospital in Karachi, which has advertised 35 vacancies from BPS-01 to BPS-04. It is unrelated to the Islamabad facility.
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