PESHAWAR: Health department is likely to declare Khyber Institute of Child Health Peshawar and Saidu wing of Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital as medical teaching institutions, according to official sources.

They said that central wing of Saidu hospital was likely to be declared district headquarters hospital.

The department had sent a proposal to Khyber Institute of Child Health (KICH) Peshawar and SGTH Swat regarding extension of Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act to both the facilities. Authorities in both the institutions had been directed to provide ‘budgetary details on priority to proceed with the plan’.

Sources told Dawn that health department had received response from both the institutions wherein KICH agreed to declare it MTI while SGTH proposed it. The latter suggested that its central wing should be declared as district headquarters hospital (DHQ) while Saidu wing could be converted into MTI.

Central part of the health facility can be made DHQ hospital

SGTH consists of central and Saidu wings. Both the wings of the hospital are located one kilometre apart. Central wing has 233 beds and Saidu wing has 656 beds.

“Authorities at SGTH are opposed to its conversion to MTI as a whole and want central wing to be declared as DHQ because of the staunch opposition by locals as well as political parties,” sources said.

According to them, the establishment of DHQ was also mandatory for each district. Except Swat, Dera Ismail Khan, Torghar and Peshawar, all districts have one DHQ, which operates under health department and governed by directorate general health services (DGHS), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As opposed to DHQs, MTI-covered hospitals are run by Board of Governors (BoGs).

Sources said that health department had asked for the budgetary position and human resource, but SGTH suggested establishment of DHQ before declaring it MTI. “There will be huge protests if both wings of the hospital are converted into MTI,” they said.

According to them, the administration of KICH has totally agreed with the proposal and requested the government to go-ahead with the enforcement of MTIRA so as to make it operational.

Sources said that KICH had informed the department that its attached Children Hospital had almost been completed but required its separate BoG to be run under MTIRA and expedite work and operationalise it.

It is Category-4 specialised Children Hospital meant to provide state-of-the-art health services to people, they said. The department has been asked by KICH administration that it will need to find qualified professional and committed doctors.

“We need collaboration both nationally and internationally to enhance the scope of hospital to include further specialised services like bone marrow transplant, kidney and liver transplant, antenatal interventions for certain cong anomalies etc for which MTI is better choice,” the administration of the facility was quoted as saying.

Officials at the department told Dawn that final decision would be taken by the architects of MTIRA. “After weighing the proposals of both the institutions, a decision will be taken and proposal will be sent to finance department and subsequently to law department after which final decisions will come,” sources said.

Officials said that it was more likely that central wing of SGTH will be declared as DHQ because of opposition by locals as well as constitutional requirement according to which every district should have a DHQ.

Officials said that work on KICH was started in June 2013 with the cost being estimated in PC-I at Rs2.2 billion. The PC-I was later revised and approved by Ecnec with a cost of Rs7.9 billion. Of the amount, Rs5.8 billion has so far been released but the slow pace of work has been the main cause of its delay.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2025