PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will complete the construction of the first burns centre with the financial assistance of United States Agency for International Development by June next year, according to sources.

The USAID has agreed to provide Rs1.6 billion for the trauma, burns and reconstructive surgery centre and an agreement in this regard has been signed, they said.

The sources said that the USAID in collaboration with the Provincial Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Settlement Authority (PaRRSA) was in the process of completing the building, which was left halfway after refusal by the federal government to provide funds it had pledged for the project. They said that tenders for construction and installation of centralised air-conditioning plant had been floated and the centre would be completed within six months.

“We want the USAID to transfer the funds to the KP Finance Department to complete the centre in a timely manner. There are monitoring committees that will supervise the process of construction to ensure transparency,” they said. The sources said that there was close liaison between the office of chief secretary, communication and works department and USAID to build the centre within stipulated period.

USAID to provide Rs1.6 billion for the project

“We have held meetings with the USAID representatives and the centre will most likely be completed by June, but before that we need to appoint 650 employees, including doctors, nurses, paramedics and support staff,” Prof Mohammad Tahir, project director of the centre, told Dawn. He said that they had already sent a request to the government for provision of funds for maintenance of the centre and recruitment of staff to avoid delay in opening of the centre for the patients.

He said that the province desperately needed the facility as presently burn patients were shifted to other cities. “We have qualified plastic surgeons to run the centre effectively,” he said.

Prof Tahir, who is also head of the Plastic Surgery Department at the Hayatabad Medical Complex, said that besides recruitment of the staff the provincial government would also provide Rs200 million for maintenance of the centre every year.

He said that construction of the centre was started in 2010 and was supposed to be completed in 2014, but due to stoppage of funds by the Workers Welfare Board, Islamabad, it couldn’t see the light of day. Early this year, the provincial government requested the USAID to help complete construction of the centre which it accepted, he said.

Prof Tahir said that there would be a separate block for the burns patients where all facilities in line with the international standard would be put in place. He said that the patients would get free facilities as besides government the local industrialists would also provide funds for provision of free services to workers of factories. “We have planned 12 beds each for men, women and children, and 10-bed intensive care unit for critically-ill patients,” he said.

He said that the centre to be built over 20 kanals at HMC would be the first of its kind to offer treatment to patients and training to health professionals in the province.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2017