PESHAWAR, Jan 24: NWFP Minister for Health Inayatullah has ordered providing staff to the newly-established burns unit at the Lady Reading Hospital.

He was presiding over a meeting held here on Wednesday to discuss setting up of burns and plastic surgery units at teaching hospitals in the city. Health secretary Abdul Samad Khan and other officials attended the meeting.

The meeting discussed chalking out a plan for setting up burns and surgery units at the Khyber Teaching Hospital and the Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar.

It stressed the stressed for strengthening the 20-bed burns unit at the LRH.

The new ward has been established by a UK-based charity, Bridging Frontiers. The chief of the charity, Prof Tahir Hasan, told the meeting that the organisation had provided latest equipment to the ward. He said the unit would also serve as a training institute for medical professionals of the province.

He said staff of the ward would be sent to the UK for training and experts from abroad would also be invited to train local doctors, paramedics and nurses.

The health minister issued directives to authorities concerned for early sanctioning of posts for the unit.

The meeting decided to include plans in the next Annual Development Programme for providing human resources and equipment to the proposed burns and plastic surgery units at the Khyber Teaching Hospital and the Hayatabad Medical Complex.

Authorities of the two institutions were asked to allocate space for setting up the units. The meeting also sought working papers for starting the units at the hospitals.