March, 23 2005	Wednesday	12 Safar 1426

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PESHAWAR, March 22: NWFP Information Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai has said that the MMA government has taken steps to improve the working of the education and health sectors despite what he called the federal government’s step-motherly attitude towards it. “The president and the prime minister have announced development packages for all the provinces except for the NWFP,” he told a function held at Satellite Hospital, Nahaqi, on Tuesday to observe the World TB Day.

He said the government had allocated Rs100 million for free emergency medical services at the tertiary-care hospitals and added that the facility would be extended to the district headquarters hospitals (DHQs) next year.

Mr Daudzai said free books worth Rs350 million would be provided to girl students up to the matriculation level this year. He said the government had allocated Rs250 million for the same purpose last year. He said the TB Day reminded the nation of its responsibilities regarding control of the ailment and added that anti-TB drugs were being provided to patients free of cost. Patients, he stressed, must continue treatment for eight consecutive months.

The minister said that the government had launched a programme under which the DHQs were being upgraded and announced that Nahaqi hospital would be awarded ‘C’ category status next year.

Health Secretary Abdus Samad and Gulman Sher Afridi, medical director of the hospital, also spoke. A poster competition regarding TB was held on the occasion in which schoolchildren participated.