October 3, 2003	Friday	Sha’aban 6, 1424

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PESHAWAR, Oct 2: Free OPD has been started at the Khyber Teaching Hospital to facilitate the patients, said the chief executive of the hospital.

The patients, he said, would be examined free of cost by the senior doctors at the out-patient department (OPD) from 3 to 5pm. They would also avail the opportunities of free investigative facilities at the hospital, he added.

“The patients would be treated by the consultants on Rs5 OPD chit,” said chief executive of the KTH, Prof Dr Ziaul Islam.

Though the government, he added, had not yet done away with the institution-based practice (IBP) officials, the practice had been abandoned to encourage for running the evening OPD.

Doctors have already started private practice after coming into power of the MMA government.

The expenditure on the IBP was more and there was no income, “therefore, we abandoned it and launched the free evening OPD at the hospital as a substitute of the IBP,” said Dr Zia, adding that the hospital would get nothing and the doctors had also volunteered their services.

According to him, the new system had been started at the KTH as the pilot project that could be replicated in other hospitals very soon.

The consultants of different specialities would examine the patients turn by turn, he said, and added: “In the evening, we have enough unutilised space which we want to use for the benefit of the patients.”