PESHAWAR, Dec 27: The NWFP cabinet has regularized the services of 8,790 paramedics by merging 57 different cadres into 14 categories. Briefing journalists after the cabinet’s weekly meeting on Tuesday, provincial Health Minister Inyatullah Khan said the Frontier government had approved a new basic service structure to the paramedical staff, adding they had been without such a structure for 58 years. He said it would benefit 8,000 families.

Mr Inyat said the new formula was based on various reports prepared by successive government committees. He said Dr Mehmood Alam had prepared present plan for the paramedical technical staff.

The minister said that chief clinical technician and principal clinical technician would be placed in the BPS-19 and 20, respectively.

He said the Health Regulatory Authority would be strengthened by empowering it on administrative side as there were some lacunas in the earlier draft. The HRA would amicably deal with day-to-day issues being faced with general public at hospitals, he added.

He said the cabinet had formed a committee comprising health, zakat and Auqaf and law ministers and health, establishment and law secretaries to make a final draft of the HRA and present in the next cabinet meeting.

Speaking on the occasion, information minister Asif Iqbal said the cabinet also approved an additional amendment (23-A) into the Forest Development Corporation (Ordinance, 1988), empowering the forest staff to recover arrears on the pattern of land revenue.

He said so far, the government had paid Rs8.15 billion among the quake-affected people in five districts. The NWFP government had taken over the administration of the two tent villages from the army. He said a staff of 116 was working at the Afghan Commissionerate had been dispatched there. The Regional Relief Commissioner and UNHCR had agreed to conduct a survey of these villages, where about 154,535 people were staying.

He said the NWFP government had also decided to establish 91 utility stores in tent villages. He said the World Food Programme had also prepared a plan to provide food items to the affected people. He said MMA government wanted a consensus on the construction of the Kalabagh dam. He supported the stand of three province on the issue. The minister hoped that Dec 29 anti-Kalabagh dam rally would be peaceful.