SWAT: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan said here on Friday that unlike previous chief ministers he was giving equal importance to development of all the districts, including merged ones, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said this during his visit to Swat where he inaugurated a dental college and the new building of Saidu Medical College in Saidu Sharif.

Addressing the inaugural function, the chief minister said that the establishment of the dental college had been a longstanding demand of the people of Malakand, which was fulfilled by their government.

“People of the entire Malakand division, including Swat, will benefit from the dental college,” he said and added that the present government was giving priority to public health. He said the health card scheme was being made more comprehensive.

Inaugurates dental college and new building of Saidu Medical College in Swat

Mahmood Khan said that new medical colleges were being set up in Charsadda, Buner, Kurram, Dir, Mansehra and other districts.

“Free liver transplants and kidney and cancer treatment are also being included in the health card scheme and soon free OPD services will be included in this scheme,” he said.

He said that the health staff in the province rendered sacrifices during the Covid-19 pandemic. “We pay tribute to the sacrifices of doctors and other medical personnel who were martyred during the epidemic,” he said.

He said that the development process was under way in the entire province, including Malakand division.

“A record number of tourists visited the tourist resorts in the province during the previous years. About 2.7 million tourists visited the tourist resorts in the province which earned Rs66 billion,” he said, adding that a long-term plan was being implemented to address the problems of Swat district.

“The foundation stone of Swat Motorway phase-II will be laid next month. Water gravity scheme has been approved to address the problem of drinking water in Mingora city,” he said.

The chief minister said that the government was taking concrete steps to reduce the effects of price hike and inflation. He said that a ration concession programme would be launched soon in order to provide relief to the poor.

He said that a loan scheme for self-employment was initiated for the youth under which loans of Rs500,000 were being provided,” he said.

Special assistant to the CM on information Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, DDAC chairman Fazal Hakim, MPA Sharafat Ali and provincial secretary information Arshad Khan were also present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2022