PESHAWAR, Feb 25: Denying reports of compulsory segregation of girl students of Khyber Medical College, NWFP Health Minister Inayatullah Khan has announced creation of 40 more seats in the college.
He invited the 'willing' girl students of the public-sector medical colleges of the province to join the girls campus of the KMC.
He was speaking at a dinner hosted on Thursday by the the administration in honour of faculty members of the Dalhouse Medical School (DMS), Canada, who are here to help the KMC faculty introduce changes in teaching methods and bring them on a par with global standards.
Principal of KMC, Dr Fazal Ahmad, Director of Medical Education, Dalhouse Medical School, Professor Blye Frank, Director International Health, DMS, Katherne Orr, and other faculty members of the two institutions and students were present on the occasion.
The minister said that health and education were top priority areas of the provincial government and 66 per cent resources allocated for the health sector were diverted to the improvement of basic health infrastructure to ensure efficient delivery of services at the local level and reduce burden on tertiary-care hospitals.
He said work on the establishment of a medical university was in progress and its charter would be tabled soon in the provincial assembly. The Saidu and Gomal Medical colleges had won PMDC's recognition as a result of hectic efforts made by the government.
Referring to the establishment of the girls campus of the KMC, he regretted that a "brilliant project" aimed at providing an option of separate education to girl students reluctant to pursue studies in co-educational institutions was misunderstood.
"There will be no forced segregation of female students," he declared, adding that creation of 40 extra seats at KMC would provide give an opportunity to girl students of public-sector medical colleges of the province to opt for the girls campus.
Free TB test: Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Mr Inayatullah announced that sputum test required for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) will be done free of cost in all the health institutions in order to strengthen the TB control services in the province.
"This is going to benefit the poor people of the province," the minister remarked while making the announcement. He said the provincial government was considering appointing district TB officers in 13 districts.
A PC-I with the financial assistance of Germany was in the process of approval which would further strengthen the TB control program in the province. "TB is the shadow of poverty and affects 35,000 people annually in the NWFP," he said.
Inayatullah said that despite its meagre resources, the NWFP government had given priority to TB control in the province. The 'Provincial TB Control Program' was launched for five years (2000-2005) at a cost of Rs62.8 million. The target given to the project was to implement DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short Course) all over the province by end of 2005.
He said the programme had been able to achieve a treatment success rate of above 86 per cent among registered patients which was in line with the WHO recommended targets. In order to achieve the community-based DOTS in the province, close liaison and collaboration between provincial TB control program and lady health workers had been ensured, he said.