Work on to build burns centres in KP, PHC told

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) was told on Friday that the government was taking steps to build burns centres in the province.

A division bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Muhammad Ayub Khan directed the secretaries Finance and Planning and Development Departments to appear in the next hearing.

The petition was filed by Supreme Court lawyer Muhammad Khushid Khan. Secretary Health Abid Majeed appeared before the bench and said the government was going to establish a burns centre and allocated Rs1 billion for it. He said the USAID was funding the project.

During the hearing, Justice Qaiser Rashid said that it was the responsibility of the provincial government to at least establish one burns centre in the province. The secretary health said the government had allocated 16 kanals land for the burns centre, for which the Workers Welfare Fund had to provide the funds.

However, he further stated that the Workers Welfare Fund did not provide the funds till 2015. Now, he said, the provincial government took control of the project and allocated Rs1 billion for it and PC-1 had already been prepared for the establishment of burns centre.

However, he said for the project, funds would be provided by Rescue and Rehabilitation, while construction work approval would be given by the Works and Development Department.

Representative of the Communication & Works Department said that advance tender had been issued for the project and work would be started very soon on it. Director General of Provincial Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Settlement Authority (PaRRSA) Muhammad Khalid informed the court that the project would be completed with the financial assistance of USAID and some fund would also be spent by the provincial government.

However, he said the foreign aid section was established in the Planning and Development Department and it would release fund to the C & W Department for the project.

He said that a majority of the burns victims in bomb blasts and other incidents had died before getting proper treatment as there was no proper treatment facility in the province due to non-existence of burns centres.

It was submitted in the petition that there was no specific burns centre in the KP hospitals. He said that there were wards in Khyber Teaching Hospital and Lady Reading Hospital for burn injuries, but patients were being referred to Punjab province or Islamabad due to lack of proper treatment.

During the course of hearing, the court took notice of high consultancy (doctors') fees in the Lady Reading Hospital, even more than private clinics and hospitals under the government's newly introduced Institution Based Practice in the hospitals.

The court sought reports from Hayatabad Medical Complex and Lady Reading Hospital, directing them to submit details about doctors' fees, and tests charges in the hospitals under the Institution-Based Private Practice.

During the case, hospital director of the Khyber Teaching Hospital stated that the consultant fee in the facility was Rs600 and operations and test charges were also 50 percent less than the private hospitals.