New burns, cardio centres hope to start work after govt creates posts

Centres expected to start work later this year

PESHAWAR: The two-year tussle between the provincial and the federal government has apparently been resolved after the K-P government created posts for the much-awaited Burns and Trauma Centre at the Hayatabad Medical Complex.

The government has also okayed a move to hire staff at an under-construction, modern cardiac centre in Peshawar. Burns centres in KhyberPakhtunkhwa (K-P) struggle when treating patients with over 20 per cent burns and such patients are often referred to facilities in the federal capital or in other parts of the Punjab. The provincial and the federal governments had agreed that the K-P government would provide the land and the manpower to run the centre while the federal government will help equip the centre.

However, after the K-P government had spent precious time and resources in constructing the building for the centre, the federal government backed out. The matter came to a head on January 26, 2016, when the Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) refused to release Rs600 million, money previously promised by the federal government for the purchase of equipment for the centre. With people in the province and the neighbouring tribal areas suffering, the United States government intervened in the impasse, offering funds to complete the project.

In June 2017, K-P Chief Minister Pervez Khan Khattak and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Mission Director Kevin Brownawell signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU). The agreement would see USAID provide Rs647million for the 120-bed burns centre which will include a reconstructive surgery unit and provide modern services to patients.  Having secured funding for the centre, the government recently created 347 posts at the facility to run it.

Cardiology positions Meanwhile, the provincial health department has also created 297 posts at another much-awaited health centre — Peshawar’s Institute of Cardiology. The posts were announced after a group of cardiac specialists from the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) started offering free medical services to patients, even carrying out heart surgeries for poor patients. Officials stated that the government had been planning to set up the facility as soon as possible but they were facing a number of hurdles. However, with the sanction for posts, officials said that it was likely that the facility will start working before the next fiscal year.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2018.