PESHAWAR, July 6: The NWFP government has acquired a 60-kanal plot of land to build a hospital for psychiatric care but so far it has not been able to take possession of the land, officials told Dawn. Officials of the Sarhad Hospital for Psychiatric Diseases (SHPD) — the sole mental hospital serving the NWFP — said the provincial government was planning to set up a new hospital as their institution was overburdened.

“The payment has been made for the 60 kanals of land allocated for a new hospital but the private owners of the land have still not given possession to the government,” said Capt (Retd) Khusdil Khan, medical superintendent of the SHPD.

Mr Khusdil said that the hospital would be completed in two phases and an amount of Rs13.592 million would be allocated for the first phase. The work will start as soon as the government gets possession of the land, he said.

The 200-bed hospital, to be constructed at Acheeni area near the Hayatabad Township, will have modern facilities.

The only other hospital for the treatment of mental illnesses is housed in an old and dilapidated building. Constructed in 1854, the building of Sarhad Hospital for Psychiatric Diseases was earlier used as part of the prison and used as a kind of asylum.

The health department took over the building in 1921 but this building does not fulfil the requirements of a hospital, the medical superintendent said.

“I have sent the case of the hospital for repair and maintenance in April to the works and services department but so far nothing has been done,” Mr Khusdil said. According to him, the building was so old that the sewerage lane was choked and was in need of repair for the last 12-13 years. A sum of Rs15 million was required for its repair, hospital officials said.

As the only government hospital for mental illnesses, this institution does not fulfil the needs of the province and is overcrowded most of the time.

Officials said that although the hospital has a capacity of 120 beds, it is forced to accommodate more than 240 patients.

“There are about 100 patients admitted in the Ward-B, a ward for serious patients, which actually has capacity to accommodate only 27 patients,” said the Mohammad Bashir, the ward incharge.