Court scorches health dept for burn unit delay
Health secretary told to file progress report on February 15
PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR:
Days after a woman walked into a Peshawar police precinct and set herself on fire and had to be rushed 200 kilometres to the federal capital for treatment, a court has expressed its displeasure in delays in building a burn unit in the provincial capital.
A two-judge bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid and Justice Ghazanfar Khan, while hearing a case relating to the construction of the Neurosurgery ward in Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace of development work.
“When will the burn hospital in the city be complete?” asked Justice Rashid.
“People are suffering. Patients have to be rushed to Punjab, where facilities are also insufficient. Most of the people cannot even afford to visit hospitals in the Punjab,” he added.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Secretary Abid Majeed, who was attending the hearing, said that construction work was in the final stages and assured the bench that the burn hospital will be completed by the end of June 2018.
Explaining complications in construction, he said that May 31 was the deadline to complete the project, but work on the air-conditioning in the building required a little more time, hence the project will be delayed by around a month.
The absence of a burns unit was first taken up by the PHC in July 2017 when the health secretary was told to submit a report about the government’s efforts to set up the unit.
The court has also asked about plans to set up such units at the divisional headquarters level.
Majeed said that they had collected data from all the divisional headquarters hospitals about available human resources and beds to form units.
In Saidu Sharif, he said, there was a four-bed burn unit. In Kohat, a local MNA had provided Rs26 million to set up the unit — of this Rs20 million had been spent but work was still continuing.
In Bannu, Majeed said that an 18-bed burn unit was working, complete with two isolation rooms and two operation theatre beds.
The government had finalised a proposal to build a burn unit in Mardan.
In Dera Ismail Khan, he said that there was currently no burn unit available. A unit was set up in Timergara, but they are trying to find adequate staff for it.
Explaining the complexity involved in setting up a burns unit, the health secretary said that a small, modern unit costs Rs200 million to Rs300 million.
“We are working on it [burns unit proposal] and will send the proposal to the planning and development department to include the construction of burns units in the divisional headquarters in next year’s annual development programme if they have no funds available for it in the ongoing year,” Majeed said.
“Let there be modern burn units at the lowest level since people have to travel from far flung areas to reach the facilities in cities,” Justice Rashid said as he acknowledged Majeed’s efforts and said that he will remain the focal person on these projects even in the event he is transferred.
“Ensure that you have a committed team and ensure that this province gets a burn unit,” he said.
“There used to be a lot of paperwork, but most of the time, little is available on the ground. You have to ensure things on the ground.”
The PHC’s two-member bench directed Majeed to submit a formal report on the construction and delays faced by February 15.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2018.
Days after a woman walked into a Peshawar police precinct and set herself on fire and had to be rushed 200 kilometres to the federal capital for treatment, a court has expressed its displeasure in delays in building a burn unit in the provincial capital.
A two-judge bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid and Justice Ghazanfar Khan, while hearing a case relating to the construction of the Neurosurgery ward in Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), expressed dissatisfaction over the slow pace of development work.
“When will the burn hospital in the city be complete?” asked Justice Rashid.
“People are suffering. Patients have to be rushed to Punjab, where facilities are also insufficient. Most of the people cannot even afford to visit hospitals in the Punjab,” he added.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Secretary Abid Majeed, who was attending the hearing, said that construction work was in the final stages and assured the bench that the burn hospital will be completed by the end of June 2018.
Explaining complications in construction, he said that May 31 was the deadline to complete the project, but work on the air-conditioning in the building required a little more time, hence the project will be delayed by around a month.
The absence of a burns unit was first taken up by the PHC in July 2017 when the health secretary was told to submit a report about the government’s efforts to set up the unit.
The court has also asked about plans to set up such units at the divisional headquarters level.
Majeed said that they had collected data from all the divisional headquarters hospitals about available human resources and beds to form units.
In Saidu Sharif, he said, there was a four-bed burn unit. In Kohat, a local MNA had provided Rs26 million to set up the unit — of this Rs20 million had been spent but work was still continuing.
In Bannu, Majeed said that an 18-bed burn unit was working, complete with two isolation rooms and two operation theatre beds.
The government had finalised a proposal to build a burn unit in Mardan.
In Dera Ismail Khan, he said that there was currently no burn unit available. A unit was set up in Timergara, but they are trying to find adequate staff for it.
Explaining the complexity involved in setting up a burns unit, the health secretary said that a small, modern unit costs Rs200 million to Rs300 million.
“We are working on it [burns unit proposal] and will send the proposal to the planning and development department to include the construction of burns units in the divisional headquarters in next year’s annual development programme if they have no funds available for it in the ongoing year,” Majeed said.
“Let there be modern burn units at the lowest level since people have to travel from far flung areas to reach the facilities in cities,” Justice Rashid said as he acknowledged Majeed’s efforts and said that he will remain the focal person on these projects even in the event he is transferred.
“Ensure that you have a committed team and ensure that this province gets a burn unit,” he said.
“There used to be a lot of paperwork, but most of the time, little is available on the ground. You have to ensure things on the ground.”
The PHC’s two-member bench directed Majeed to submit a formal report on the construction and delays faced by February 15.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2018.