PESHAWAR, Oct 4: NWFP health minister Inayatullah Khan has said that PC-1 for the first-ever medical university in the province had been prepared.

“Arrangements for the establishment of a medical university in the province had been given final touches, which would be implemented very soon,” said Mr Khan while addressing a seminar entitled “establishment of a medical university in NWFP” at the Khyber Medical College (KMC) here on Saturday.

The seminar, organised by the KMC Teachers Association, was participated by academicians and senior doctors. Speakers on the occasion discussed in detail various aspects of the proposed university and furnished suggestions with regard to its effective construction.

The health minister said establishment of a medical university in the province was a longstanding demand of the academicians and medical students and the federal and provincial governments had also promised its establishment on several occasions, but it was not materialised.

“It was most unfortunate that the plan could not be materialised previously,” he lamented, and added that the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government had finally made elaborate arrangements to kick off the university’s construction.

The government had strong commitment to provide the medical students with an infrastructure for studies as well as research activities and, therefore, serious and systematic measures had been initiated by the present government to translate the dream of the medical university into a reality.

He hoped that the establishment of the university would create more opportunities of higher medical education and research and most of the medical graduates would not need to go to foreign countries for the higher and postgraduate studies.

Its construction would also facilitate the teaching staff with better chances of promotion into next grades, he said, and assured of his full cooperation in the effective implementation of the plan.

He further said that the law regarding the construction of the medical university had been drafted and after being vetted by the law department would be tabled in the NWFP Assembly soon.

Similarly, a summary for the acquisition of the required land and building for the university had also been prepared, he added.