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Thursday March 28, 2024

Imran’s claim of establishing 27 new hospitals in KP surprises all

By Mushtaq Yusufzai
July 24, 2018

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s claim of establishing 27 new hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during five-year tenure of his party government has surprised not only his party people but also political opponents as some of the health facilities he put to his credit were either launched by the previous government while others are yet to be completed.

The statics of the health facilities completed by May 2018 are available with The News.

As per these statistics, 15 health facilities were either established or upgraded in KP during the PTI government but there is no mention of 27 new hospitals established in the province.

Interestingly, Imran Khan also took the credit for the long-awaited and much-delayed Peshawar Institute of Cardiology (PIC) that was announced by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government during last few months of their government. The construction work on the project was launched during the coalition government of the Awami National Party-Pakistan People’s Party.

The PIC is yet to see the light of the day. There are no proper cardiac care facilities for more than 30 million people of KP and Fata.

Besides PIC, Imran Khan claimed to have established the Institute of Kidney Diseases (IKD).

If he meant the IKD in Peshawar, it was established in 2007 by the MMA government that recorded a 600 per cent rise in terms of patients, both outdoor and indoor patients, but the PTI government failed to provide it adequate funds to procure equipment and expand patient care on the second floor, built with funds provided by ANP-led government.

The building was completed in June 2016 but the PTI government showed the least interest in providing funds for its utilization and hiring additional trained staff to overcome patients’ burden. The government later, however, provided it Rs600 million.

But PIC is the classic example of negligence and must be breaking records for a hospital remaining incomplete even after over 14 years since its groundbreaking. Even now there are no encouraging signs that it will be made functional soon.

This project was started in 2004 and has since been a story of neglect, personal greed and wrongful priorities.

The issue was brought into Imran Khan’s notice several times and during a press conference almost a year ago, he had pledged to provide the required to PIC and open it for patients in six months.

He may know that the Punjab government has made functional a similar Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) only in three years.

Sources told The News that the PTI government was mostly unaware of the existence of the PIC until last year when Dr Nausherwan Burki, Imran Khan’s cousin and the man behind the healthcare reforms in KP, started taking interest in it.

The then Health Minister Shahram Khan had visited the under-construction building of the PIC on January 10, 2016, and instructed the authorities to complete the building by June 30, with recruitment commencing in July, the same year.

The deadline passed but the PTI was not ready to provide funds for equipment as to them the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) was more important than cardiology hospital.

The project directors for the PIC up to 2015 were Professor Dr Mohammad Hafizullah. He is the right person to explain the long delay in getting the project functional.

Imran Khan also claimed to have established Women and Children Hospital Peshawar. He announced it this year.

The services either established or upgraded during the PTI government are Category-C Hospital Takhtbhai, Mardan, Emergency Unit in DHQ Hospital Kohat, Category-C Hospital Khawazakhela, Swat, Category-D Hospital Doaba Hangu district, Category-C Hospital Pattan in Kohistan, Shaheed Farid Khan DHQH (Cat-C) Hangu, Upgradation of DHQ Hospital Kohat to Type-A, Category-D Hospital Abbottabad, construction of Gynae/Peads wards at Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad, which were though constructed years ago and lying unutilized, expansion/extension of Institute of Kidney Diseases, Hayatabad Peshawar, establishment of Peads surgery ward at Gynea Block in LRH Peshawar, construction of Casualty at DHQ Hospital Haripur, establishment of Casualty block at KTH Peshawar, which was also initiated by the ANP government and is yet to be completed, establishment of PIC, RHC Shewa Swabi, RHC Martung Shangla, RHC Azakhel Nowshera, RHC Charbanda Mardan, THQ Hospital Kulachi Cate-D Hospital DI Khan, Cat-C Hospital Topi Swabi, Cat-D Hospital Yar Hussain, additional ward LRH Peshawar, Saidu Hospital Swat, Old DHQ Hospital Swabi, Qazi Hussain Ahmad Medical Complex Nowshera, Benazir Children Hospital Mardan, also started by the ANP government and is yet to be completed, Maternity and Children Hospital Charsadda, Cat-D Hospital Manki Sharif, Dag Ismailkhel & Ziarat Kaka Sahib, Nowshera, and DHQ Hospital in Malakand.