PESHAWAR: Pakistan Paediatric Association has expressed concerns over non-completion of Khyber Institute of Child Health and its affiliated Children’s Hospital Peshawar despite lapse of 12 years.

The association has urged the government to allocate resources so that paediatric services could be developed across the province.

Speaking at a ceremony held to mark Universal Children’s Day at Khyber Institute of Child Health (Kich) on Thursday, PPA former president Prof Abdul Hameed regretted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lagged behind other provinces with regard to children’s health facilities owing to pathetic attitude of the authorities concerned.

Former head of child health department at Khyber Medical College and Khyber Teaching Hospital, Prof Hameed said that the institute had been designed to promote preventive, curative and rehabilitation services for children and put brakes on most of the ailments but it remained a dream.

PPA voices concern over non-completion of Khyber Institute of Child Health

“It would pave way for training of doctors, who could be deployed throughout the province. The government’s lackluster response towards improvement in child health services is evident from the fact that it didn’t avail the $20 million grant by the Government of Japan and $35 million by the USA,” he said.

Prof Hameed said that except Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, all provinces had got comprehensive children hospitals where patients received all sorts of services. He added that the province had less than 400 beds in periphery hospitals that were required to cater to the needs of 10 million children.

“About 65 per cent of patients in rural areas are children, who suffer due to shortage of facilities and trained staff,” said Prof Hameed. He added that there were less than 300 beds for children in teaching hospitals due to which more several children were admitted on a single bed that caused complications.

PPA provincial president Prof Afzal Khan stressed the need for a full-fledged institute in the province where doctors, nurses and paramedics could be trained for treatment of children.

In the absence of an institute, people have no option except taking their children to Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad for mental, cardiac, kidney and surgical problems, which not only deteriorates the condition of patients but also makes their treatment expensive.

Prof Afzal said that Kich was supposed to act like an umbrella for children services in the province. He urged the government to complete the institute at the earliest for the sake of children.

“Children cannot speak for themselves and therefore have been neglected. Only healthy children can get proper education and work towards development of the society and progress of the country,” he said.

Prof Afzal said that there would be 17 super specialties in child health after completion of the institute to fulfil all their investigative and treatment needs inside the province.

Other speakers on the occasion said that the province needed to expand child health services to the district and tehsil level so that patients could be treated locally. “Development of facilities at the district level will also lessen load of patients on tertiary care hospitals, which are required to receive high complicated cases,” they added.

They said that federal government had pledged Rs2.209 billion in 2009 for the project but it didn’t release appropriate funds to complete the scheme within five years. “Only Rs700 million has been released for the project so far,” they added. MPAs Asia Asad and Zahir Shah Toru also spoke on the occasion. They pledged to make efforts for completion of Kich.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2019