PESHAWAR/ABBOTTABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Monday said his government was revamping all district headquarters hospitals and converting basic health units and rural health centres into 24/7 facilities as part of ‘unprecedented’ health reforms.

He also said four tertiary care hospitals were being set up in different regions of the province under public-private partnership to reduce patient load on major hospitals and provide standard health services to people on their doorstep.

“The provincial government has prioritised the development of health and education sectors along modern lines and introduced unprecedented health reforms,” the chief minister told special ceremony held here for the formal inauguration of a modern clinical skills lab at the Post Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI) of the Hayatabad Medical Complex.

Members of the provincial cabinet Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Kamran Bangash and Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif and MPAs Asif Khan, Malik Wajid and Arbab Wasim were also in attendance.

CM opens Rs370m clinical skills lab at PGMI in Peshawar

According to an official statement issued here, the Rs370 million worth of lab is the only public sector simulation centre of its kind across the country.

It has the latest and updated simulators and equipment for training of doctors in all specialties, including medicine, surgery, gynaecology and orthopedics, so the doctors will not have to go abroad for training like before.

The chief minister lauded the efforts of the provincial health minister and the PGMI’s management for establishing the lab, which, he said, would prove to be a milestone towards providing international standard healthcare facilities to the people of the province.

He said the PGMI was the best institute imparting training in medical sector and had become the first-ever in the public sector with the latest and modern skills lab in the country.

Mr Mahmood said a number of reforms and development initiatives were completed during the last one and a half years causing significant improvement in health sector of the province.

He said the Sehat Card Plus was a pro-poor initiative to offer free healthcare to the entire population of the province.

The chief minister complained that the ‘imported’ prime minister didn’t even know that people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had already got an access to free medical treatment.

He said PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan was fighting for the real independence and sovereignty of the country and that millions of people would take to the streets on his call for the purpose.

The chief minister said general elections would be held soon leading to the PTI’s landslide victory and installation of Mr Imran as the prime minister again with two-thirds majority in the National Assembly.

Also in the day, Mr Mahmood visited Abbottabad, inaugurated two newly completed development projects, and addressed a convention of PTI workers.

He also inaugurated 18km long Dhamtor Bypass Road built at a cost of Rs3.4 billion as well as the Rs240 million building of the Government College of Management Sciences.

Addressing the workers’ convention, he claimed that the ‘imported’ federal government had nothing for the people’s development as it comprised politicians, who came to power to save their wealth obtained through corruption and money laundering.

He asked the people to support Mr Imran for their as well as the country’s bright future.

Mr Mahmood said the groundbreaking of the revamping of Abbottabad DHQ would be performed very soon, while Rs12 billon schemes had been planned for the district under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project.

Acting Governor Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, MPAs Qalandar Khan Lodhi, Nazir Abbasi and Momina Basit and former MNA Ali Khan Jadoon also addressed the workers’ convention.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2022