KP govt again moves summary to rename Swat kidney hospital

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has once again initiated a summary to rename a kidney hospital in Swat that was initially named after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as he had reportedly established the health facility for patients suffering from renal complications.

The former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had renamed Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital, Swat, as Miangul Abdul Haq Jahanzeb Kidney Hospital.

It had aroused strong criticism from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leaders and activists as they claimed their party leader had provided funds for setting up the kidney centre and getting its equipment.

The provincial health department had issued a notification to rename the health facility in Swat when it was renamed as Miangul Abdul Haq Jahanzeb Kidney Hospital.

According to Adviser to the prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Engineer Amir Muqam, Nawaz Sharif had decided to establish the health facility in Swat when he came to know about the renal health problems there and lack of basic facilities in 2009 when around 2.5 million people left homes before the launch of military operation against the militants headed by Maulana Fazlullah.

“I have personally informed Mian Nawaz Sharif about the plight of patients suffering from renal health problems of the people and requested him for releasing funds. The former prime minister was very kind and released funds for the hospital and equipment,” Amir Muqam told The News.

He said the former prime minister had agreed and arranged funds for the kidney centre through Punjab Hospitals Trust.

According to Amir Muqam, Ishaq Dar was chairman of the trust and he was not the finance minister at that time but had donated Rs500 million for a kidney hospital in Swat. “Let me tell you another fact, Nawaz Sharif had donated all his salaries to the kidney hospital that he had received as prime minister. I used to bring the cheques for his salaries and deliver them to the medical superintendent of the hospital,” the PMLN leader said. According to Amir Muqam, Nawaz Sharif had provided quality equipment as the aim was to establish a renal transplant unit there. He said the provincial government had offered him an ill-equipped Category D Hospital in Manglawar near Mingora for the establishment of the kidney hospital. The previous building was demolished and the Swat district administration provided 47 kanals of land to a trust run by former federal finance minister Ishaq Dar to the proposed kidney hospital. The district administration later provided an additional land of 35 kanals to the same trust for the hospital. According to senior government officials, it was neither the provincial government nor Nawaz Sharif who financed the project. They said it was a group of Punjab-based philanthropists that raised the funds and donated the same to the kidney centre and set up the facility for treating the renal diseases. Amir Muqam said Mian Nawaz Sharif had taken personal interest in the health facility and wanted the patients to get all the required facilities under one roof. The health facility was named after Mian Nawaz Sharif as he had personally come to Swat for the groundbreaking ceremony of the kidney hospital in 2012, though he was not the prime minister then. The PTI leadership, while renaming the kidney centre, had argued that the decision to rename the health facility after Nawaz Sharif was made in violation of rules of business of the Administration Department that national assets could not be named after a living person. Interestingly, when the kidney centre was built in two years, Mian Nawaz Sharif was again the prime minister and then he visited Swat in 2014 to inaugurate the facility and opened it for patients.

The PMLN leadership called it a politically-motivated decision and held the PTI government responsible when the kidney center was renamed. Even when the facility was renamed, the people of Swat and its surrounding areas still used the old name as it was commonly known as Nawaz Sharif Hospital. Amir Muqam had opposed the government decision at that time but he was helpless and couldn’t prevent the KP government from renaming the kidney hospital. When he was appointed adviser to the prime minister, Amir Muqam started his efforts to rename the kidney hospital and name it after its original fundraiser Mian Nawaz Sharif.