PESHAWAR, March 4: A sub-committee has been constituted by the parliamentary committee of the NWFP Assembly to make final recommendations with regard to the institution-based practice (IBP).

A meeting of the committee, held here on Tuesday under its chairman, Anwar Kamal Khan Marwat, reviewed the findings of the committee and decided to form a sub-committee to look further into the findings of the parliamentary committee and present its recommendations to the committee by March 17.

MPAs Dr Semin Mehmood Jan, Dr Saleem Khan, Dr Zakirullah and Mr Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani have been nominated as members of the sub-committee.

The military-led government launched the IBP in government-run hospitals on March 1, 2002, following widespread complaints of irregularities in the private clinics and hospitals of the doctors. In the process, several senior doctors resigned from their posts in protest against the IBP. They argued that the government should have taken the doctors community into confidence while launching the IBP.

The doctors who resigned from their posts formed the Special Doctors Society (SDS) with a view to run a campaign against the IBP. They argued that the IBP had played havoc not only with the hospitals but the medical education had also suffered a great deal because of the resignation of the senior medical consultants.

The SDS also argued that the IBP had failed to bring relief to the patients, who paid same consultation fee of Rs300 at the IBP which they were paying at the private clinics.

Following the installation of the MMA-led government in the NWFP, an 11-member parliamentary committee had been formed to look into the pros and cons of the IBP.

The committee has held several meetings and almost finalized its report with regard to the IBP. The sub-committee would present its final report on March 17.