PESHAWAR, May 14: Chief Minister Akram Durrani has pledged to speed up the efforts for establishing state-of-the-art educational institutions across the province. Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the KMC Girls Campus at PDA building on Friday as chief guest, he claimed that the MMA government had the credit of launching a number of development projects, which have no match in the past 55 years.

He also directed the Peshawar Development Authority to prepare paperwork for the allotment of its Hayatabad building to Khyber Medical College’s girls campus.

Health Minister Inayatullah Khan, NWFP Assembly Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan and some senior medical professors were also attended the ceremony.

Mr Durrani said that providing health and education facilities was his government’s priority and cited the example of providing free books to all girl students up to the matric level and to boys up to Grade-V.

The provincial chief executive said that next year they would provide free books to all male students up to metric level.

Commenting on the government’s decision of setting up a separate campus for girl students of the KMC, he said it was decided in the light of the traditions and culture of the NWFP.

Mr Durrani hoped that in the near future the girls’ campus of the KMC would become a full-fledge medical college.

The chief minister expressed his anguish over the much criticized behaviour of the doctors with the patients.

He reminded them of their demands of reviving the evening clinical practice and said that the MMA government despite reservations of some departments allowed the doctors to carry out the private practice.

Health Minister Inayatullah Khan said that the decision to establish a separate campus for girl students of the KMC was a step in the right direction.

He said that the government has worked out a plan to hire the services of some medical professors for the girls’ campus of the KMC to overcome the shortage of staff.

Mr Khan said that for the last many years people of the NWFP were demanding a separate medical college for girls as Punjab and Sindh were having separate girls medical colleges.