PESHAWAR, July 9: The NWFP government is upgrading the under-construction Khalifa Gul Nawaz Hospital in Bannu to a teaching hospital to meet the conditions set forth by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council for the establishment of the Bannu Medical College (BMC).

“Khalifa Gul Nawaz Hospital is being made a teaching hospital in view of the establishment of the BMC by the provincial government at a cost Rs1 billion,” said BMC project director Prof Dr Omar Ali Khan.

He said that 450 kanals of land had been acquired for the college which would start enrolling students in December this year.

Construction of the 600-bed Khalifa Gul Nawaz Teaching Hospital in Bannu would be completed next year. Initially, the 200-bed district headquarters hospital would act as a teaching hospital as stop-gap arrangements, said Dr Khan, a former principal of the Khyber Medical College.

He said that Bannu was technically more feasible due to its strategic location. People from North and South Waziristan agencies, Karak and even Afghanistan would get heath care facilities and would lessen the burden on hospitals in Peshawar.

Named after the grandfather of Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani — Khalifa Gul Nawaz — the project had also been included in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of the federal government. Half of the funding would come from the central government.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), at its meeting held on Dec 7 last, had approved 50 per cent financing for the project.

Dr Khan said that initially 50 students would be enrolled after entrance test on open merit. Later, the number of seats could be increased to 100, he added.

The project director said that the BMC would start functioning in a newly-constructed building of the Government High School till the completion of its own building.

According to him, PC-1 of the college had been finalised that would be presented for approval to the government very soon.

“Special care had been taken to fulfil the PMDC requirements, both at the BMC and the hospital,” he said.

“All the posts would be advertised to select competent people. Retired professors would also be given preference because of their experience,” he said, adding that it would be the first medical college of the country where students would be given clinical lectures from the first year at the college.