PESHAWAR, April 4: The students of the Pakistan Institute of Prosthetic and Orthetic Sciences (PIPOS) held here on Wednesday a rally to protest against the government’s decision to vacate the building in the premises of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH).

The students were shouting slogans against NWFP Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah and KTH Chief Executive Dr Zahir Shah.

A student of final year, Zia ul Haq, told to Dawn that “neither the government nor the KTH authorities have financed the building of institution. By taking such an action, the government is playing with the careers of students studying in PIPOS.”

According to official sources, the PIPOS was established in 1986 by a German-based organization, GTZ, within the premises of hospital with the intention to educate students and manufacture various artificial limbs for amputated people in Afghanistan.

The institute, which awarded degrees in BSc (Hons), was also used as a laboratory. In the meantime, the authorities of PIPOS built their own hospital in Hayatabad.

As a single, autonomous institute of its nature in Asia, PIPOS was handed over to the government by GTZ after the withdrawal of the former Soviet Union from Afghanistan.

Recently, when the provincial government decided to ban public sector doctors’ private practice, and introduced institutional-based practice, it faced problems in accommodating the doctors.  

It was in this background that the governor issued a notification to the administration of the hospital to vacate the building so that it could be brought in use of institutional-based practice, sources said.

The protesting students demanded an immediate withdrawal of the order regarding the vacation of the institute. They said the institute had been established by GTZ and that the provincial government had no authority to ask the PIPOS to vacate it. They later dispersed peacefully.

When contacted, Dr Zahir Shah said, “The decision taken by the government is irreversible. Whatever the decision is, we are bound to implement it. It is a need, not a priority.”

When asked what the fate of the students would be if the decision was implemented, he said the property, where the building had been constructed belonged to the hospital.

He remarked that the students had their own hospital in Hayatabad, where they could study.