PHC takes notice of delay in establishment of burns centre

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) observed on Wednesday that further delay in establishment of a burns centre would not be tolerated and directed the secretary health services to submit a progress report about completion of the centre within 14 days.

“The government should appoint clean and honest officials for purchase of equipment and other materials for the burns centre as money usually goes to the pockets instead of being used on the project; this is why we are facing such a situation today,” Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan observed.

A division bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Younas Thaheem was hearing a writ petition filed by senior lawyer Muhammad Khurshid Khan for establishment of a burns centre in the province.

During the course of hearing, Abid Majeed, secretary health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, informed the bench that the provincial government, in compliance with the court orders, was going to establish the first burns centre of the province.

He said that the provincial government had released Rs122 million for the burns centre. He said the USAID had agreed to provide Rs1.6 billion for the trauma, burns and reconstructive surgery centre and an agreement in this regard had also been signed. He said that USAID, in collaboration with the Provincial Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Settlement Authority (PaRRSA), were trying to complete the building, which was left halfway after refusal by the federal government to provide funds it had pledged for the project.

However, he submitted that purchase of equipment and appointment of staff for the centre would take some time.

Muhammad Khurshid said that a majority of the burns victims in bomb blasts and other incidents died before receiving proper treatment as there was no burns centre. 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.

In another write petition filed by neurosurgeon Dr Mumtaz about the establishment of Neurosurgical Department in the Khyber Teaching Hospital, the officials of Peshawar Electric Supply Company and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited informed the court that electricity work had been completed while the gas connection would take four weeks.

The secretary Health said the Neurosurgical Department would start working in the KTH soon. The petitioner had claimed that the neurosurgery departments of the Lady Reading Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex, two other public sector hospitals of Peshawar, were overburdened and as 20,000-30,000 patients visited them every month.

Earlier, the court had disposed of the petition after the KTH administration and the provincial government agreed to establish the department. However, the petitioner then filed contempt of court petition, after the hospital administration and government failed to establish the Neurosurgical Department.

The court later appointed Secretary Health Abid Majeed as focal person to speed up the work on these two public importance projects and directed him to submit progress report within 14 days.  The court fixed November 14 for next hearing into the cases.