KTH looks to court for reclaiming prime space

PESHAWAR: Administration of the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) is desperately looking towards the judiciary to vacate a stay order of a private contractor and return them a prime space so that they can better utilise it for patient care by installing an MRI machine and the build sunken patio to the basement where all outpatient services are to be shifted from next month.

According to the hospital administration, a private contractor had occupied four prime locations in the hospital and despite fulfilling all legal formalities, the canteen owner had constantly been refusing to return them their space.

The KTH administration on Saturday organised a press conference and tour of the hospital for the media and showed three kanals of precious property recently recovered from land grabbers after hectic efforts.

The hospital administration had also arranged Khatmul Quran and prayed for betterment of the institution and welfare of the doctors and other healthcare providers working there.

Hospital Director Prof Roohul Muqeem and Medical Director Prof Amer Azhar briefed the media about the ongoing projects and multiple challenges they are facing from within and outside elements.

The major issue at the moment is recovering hospital space from the canteen owner. The contractor, according to the hospital administration, was allotted a space in the basement for a canteen and a tandoor in the hostel. The canteen owner later captured another space and encroached further land on four sites. Their contract had expired in July 2018.

The hospital administration had spent millions of rupees and utilised a large space in the basement by constructing several rooms and a pathology department. The hospital is set to shift all the outpatient services from the ground floor to the basement next month and the concrete work for eastern sunken patio had already been completed.

The hospital administration was helpless to build the western sunken patio to the basement as the canteen owner had refused to vacate the space he had illegally occupied. Also, the KTH administration planned to install an MRI machine but they couldn’t do so, because the space is occupied by the canteen.

“Our hands are tied as the contractor can easily get a stay order from the court. Until and unless we don’t get back our prime space, we would not be able to utilise the basement for OPD,” said Prof Roohul Muqeem.

He said they had recovered three kanals of precious land from grabbers after several decades.

Dr Muqeem said they had increased the backup system of oxygen gas to avoid any mishap in future. He said that work on the incomplete renovation project was started on a fast track.

Interestingly, some of the hospital employees had occupied a precious land near the Accident and Emergency Department and built living rooms and rented out some space to a public call office at the lowest rate of Rs750 per month.

The hospital administration has also appealed to chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and chief justice Peshawar High Court to help them make KTH a state-of-the-art hospital by removing land grabbers and problematic employees from the hospital.