‘State-of-the-art burns centre ready for inauguration in Peshawar’

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly was told on Monday that the newly constructed burns centre was ready and needed to be inaugurated.

Law Minister Sultan Muhammad, in reply to the question of Nighat Orakzai of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), informed the House that the lone state-of-the-art burns centre of the province was complete and would become operational soon.

Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani also referred to the committee the call attention notice of Waqar Ahmad Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). It was about the lack of health facilities in Saidu Sharif Hospital.

According to the mover, MRI, ultrasound, CT Scan and X-Ray machines at the facilities had been out of order for several months. He said the hospital lacked medicines and injections. The speaker ruled that the Health Department should not only provide details of the Saidu Sharif Hospital but also the equipment (both operational and non-operational) of health institutions of the entire province. The question by Inayatullah Khan of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) about recruitment, financial and clinical audit of the major hospitals of the province under MTI Reforms Act was also referred to the standing committee on health.

The mover had sought the details of recruitment, revenue, internal financial and clinical audit under the MTI Reforms Act in eight hospitals of the province. He was not satisfied with the answer, seeking the details of revenue. He said how it was possible that there was only a difference of a few lakh rupees between province largest hospital Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) and a comparatively small hospital Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and the annual income of these hospitals was just Rs157 million and Rs154 million, respectively.

There were also complaints about recruitment, he added. He demanded the constitution of a parliamentary committee to probe the matter. Opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani, while supporting Inayatullah, said that recently 15 people were appointed at Khalifa Gul Nawaz Hospital, Bannu without any test or other procedure. Awami National Party parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak advocated the formation of a parliamentary committee, saying they had evidence of irregularities in the LRH.

Earlier, Nighat Orakzai of PPP, on a point of order, raised the issue of Levies’ firing when women and children in Landikotal held a protest against power loadshedding. She said there were reports of rifts between the governor and chief minister over the powers related to affairs of tribal districts. Food Minister Qalandar Khan Lodhi said the incident of firing should be probed. However, he denied there were any rift between the governor and the chief minister and said the latter was the chief executive of the province, including the newly merged tribal districts.

On a point order of Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha about the blockade of the Murree Road due to snowfall, the speaker said the Communication and Works, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highways Authority (KPHA) and Galiyat Development Authority officials should be summoned to explain the situation about the failure to clear the roads from snow. The mover said the KPHA lacked machinery to clear the snow and road remained closed for seven to 10 days though the link roads were being cleared by the C&W.

He said the contractor had one bulldozer but often the fuel was not available to run it. Ahmad Karim Kundi of PPP raised the issue of low payment to sugarcane growers in Dera Ismail Khan and said the official rate of sugarcane was fixed as Rs180 per mound but mills owner were making payment at the rate of Rs173. He said the mills owners complained that the government was not giving them subsidy like that of Punjab and in this tussle growers become the ultimate losers.

Mehmood Jan of the PTI also complained that the sugarcane growers in Peshawar were also not being paid the official rate. Food Minister Qalandar Lodhi assured the House that payment would be made as per official rates. However, he said the government cannot afford subsidy.