PESHAWAR, Sept 15: The standing committee of the NWFP Assembly has asked the government to make arrangements for utilising Rs 500 million deposited in the endowment fund. The committee, which held its meeting on Thursday under the chairmanship of MPA Dr Mohammad Salim Khan in the Conference Room of the NWFP Assembly, said that the funds be utilised for the benefit of poor and deserving patients.

The committee members were briefed on the establishment of the endowment fund, the Health Regulatory Authority and appointments and accommodation problems of the house job officers at the Saidu Medical College. They were also briefed on the upgradation issue of Saidu Teaching Hospital and measures so far under process for removing the deficiencies in the Saidu Medical College.

It recommended that the income-generating projects so far under process should be finalised so that the benefit of the fund could trickle down to the poor. They were of the view that after lapse of more than a year, the fund was still waiting to be utilised for the poor and needy patients.

The committee took serious notice of the death of an eight-year- old child at the Saidu Hospital reportedly due to doctors negligence and called for responsibility be fixed on those who had done such negligence. The members regretted that in spite of the fact that bulk of budget was being utilised in the health sector, the people were seeing no change in the facilities. They also regretted that the doctors were preferring patients at their clinics while in hospitals they were not taking interest, which had caused serious problems to the poor patients.

Members of the provincial assembly Mohammad Amin Khan, Dr Zakirullah Khan, Israrullah Khan Gandapur, Qurban Ali, Dr Semin Mahmood Jan and Dr Imtiaz Sultan Bukhari and officials of the health department attended the meeting.