14 years on, hospital still not completed

The Khyber Institute of Child Health, which was started 14 years ago and has been the only hospital of its kind in the province, is yet to see the completion of its building.

Talking to The Express Tribune an official said that 85 percent construction work is complete but due to lack of funds and maintenance the building was in a state of decline.

“Recently Pakistan Pediatric Association (PDA) sent an application to the government to release funds for the hospital and make it fully functional but to no avail,” said the official, adding that the hospital was not only the specialised facility treating 17 different diseases of children but was also the research and prevention body under one roof.

“This is also a training institute for the graduate and undergraduate doctors and paramedics as well as other health workers. It was started in 2007 and it was announced by the then president Asif Ali Zardari,” he said.

“The federal government has to provide Rs2 billion funds while the Japanese government had to provide $20 million and the US government $35 million but the ANP government removed the project director whose personal efforts led to the grants by the two foreign governments,” he said, adding that the USAID provided equipment worth Rs750 million but the Japan government stopped the release of funds when the government failed to provide security to the Japanese diplomat who wanted to visit the hospital.

“The Japanese government was also interested in completing the project and then handing it over to the K-P government but the provincial government wanted the funds which was not acceptable to the donors,” said another official, adding that the MMA government had provided 20 kanal of land for the hospital in Hayatabad and the provincial government approved Rs500 million for the renovation of the building. The federal government had to release Rs2 billion in 2009 but it failed to release it in five years.

PDA wrote several letters to the government and its delegation even met the Chief Minister in which he was informed about the reservations of the doctors. Doctors Association also demanded that a Board of Governors (BoG) should be announced for the hospital on which a committee comprising senior doctors was also promised but things led to nowhere.

When contacted, Secretary Health Syed Imtiaz Hussain informed The Express Tribune that it was a federal government funded project and all the funds provided had been utilized.

“If we get more funds the construction work will be restarted. The provincial government wants its completion as soon as possible,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2021.