PESHAWAR, March 12: The provincial health department is facing difficulty in verifying the academic credentials of Hakeems for appointment in government hospitals because of their varying qualifications.

According to sources in the health secretariat, the health department is also facing problems in setting standards vis-a-vis their basic qualifications.

The MMA-led government in the NWFP decided to establish alternative medicine centres by setting up homoeopathic and Tib dispensaries in all the 24 districts of the province two years ago.

“The decision was taken because of the fact that 70 per cent of the people seek treatment from homoeopaths and Hakeems,” said the sources.

They said the government had allocated Rs37.5 million for the establishment of homoeopathic and Tibb-i-Islami dispensaries in the Annual Development Programme for 2006-07.

They said that according to the plan, one Tabib and a homoeopath would be appointed in BPS-16 in each of the 24 districts, adding that they would be supported by a dispenser and a ward orderly.

A few years ago, Hakeems were referred to as quacks.

A health department official said the concept of alternative medicine was gaining respectability throughout the world and the World Health Organisation had also accepted its importance.

The WHO, he said, had been asking member countries to introduce alternative medicines to expand their health delivery network.

A special cell in the office of the NWFP director-general, health services, had already been created and two assistant directors would be tasked with monitoring and evaluating these outlets’ performance.

He said a committee has been working under the DG health services to implement the project and plans are afoot to set up more colleges for homoeopathy and Tib in the province.

According to him, alternative medicine was cheaper and more affordable for people.

To make private practice of homoeopaths and Tabibs more effective, the Health Regulatory Authority has been tasked to register all outlets in the private sector.

The clinics registered with the Pakistan Tib Council and Homoeopathic Council would be allowed to operate while unauthorised ones would be closed, he said.

He urged all homoeopaths and Tabibs to get their clinics registered.