PM commends Khyber Teaching Hospital revamp

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday commended the revamp of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) in Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

“Khyber Teaching Hospital has been totally revamped and modernised after a lot of effort,” the premier said on his official Twitter handle.

He also congratulated the KTH Board and management for their efforts in the restoration process.

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“It is easy to build a new state-of-the-art hospital; but very difficult to fix our existing government hospitals,” the prime minister maintained.

In December, seven officials of KTH including the medical facility’s director were suspended after an inquiry report found them negligent in performing their duties, which resulted in the deaths of six Covid-19 patients due to the shortage of oxygen supply.

A day earlier, six Covid-19 patients died at the KTH as the oxygen supply at the medical institution ran out.

Immediately after the incident, the provincial government ordered the hospital's Board of Governors (BoG) to submit a report within 48 hours. However, the preliminary inquiry report was handed over to K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan within a day.

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While chairing a special meeting at his office, the K-P chief minister directed the KTH BoG to complete the inquiry within a week and initiate proceedings so that those responsible for the happening could be terminated from jobs and taken to task.

He vowed that the “culprits” would be dealt with an iron hand and noted that if the BoG did not take any action, the K-P government would hold an independent inquiry and proceed against them.

The K-P chief minister announced a sum of Rs1 million each for the relatives of the deceased.