PESHAWAR, April 16: The NWFP health department is reported to be obstructing the implementation of a decision to upgrade the Khyber Medical College to a university..

Sources said then prime minister Benazir Bhutto had announced to upgrade the college in 1989. The same year, the federal government, as part of the National Education Policy, had announced establishment of three medical universities in the country, including the Khyber Medical University.

The sources said that on behalf of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, then Chief Minister Mehtab Ahmad Khan had also announced to upgrade the KMC. And, the sources added, President Gen Pervez Musharraf was the last to make such an announcement during Golden Jubilee celebrations of the college in December 2004.

“The president had asked the then governor to expedite the process of upgradation of the college to the university and the Higher Education Commission has already issued a no-objection certificate in this regard,” said a senior doctor.

The government has established the University of Health Sciences and upgraded the King Edwards Medical College to the King Edwards Medical University in Punjab and the Liaqat Medical College, Jamshoro, and the DOW Medical College, Karachi, to universities in Sindh. But the KMC is yet to be upgraded.

After allocating Rs91 million for the KMU, the provincial Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government acquired a plot for the university in April 2004 and appointed a project director.

The sources said the NWFP governor was required to issue an ordinance for upgrading the college as had been done in case of other colleges.

A draft bill prepared by the NWFP government and approved by the cabinet and the governor is now to be tabled in the provincial assembly to charter the KMU. However, the provincial government has constituted a committee comprising administrative secretaries to review the draft bill.

“Formation of the committee is beyond comprehension because the draft bill for the KMU has already been approved by the cabinet and it only needs to be passed by the provincial assembly,” said a source in the health secretariat.

“The main hindrance is the provincial bureaucracy which doesn’t want to lose control over medical colleges and hospitals,” he said.

According to him, after establishment of the KMU, medical colleges and hospitals will come under the control of the federal government and the provincial government will not be able to interfere in their affairs.

Another source said the provincial bureaucracy was re-drafting the bill for the KMU according to which hospitals would remain under the control of the provincial government even after the KMC was upgraded.

He said the situation would adversely affect the KMU because hospitals were needed to be affiliated with the proposed university, adding that the King Edwards Medical University was still facing problems because the Punjab government had not given up the control of the Mao Hospital.

Sources in the KMC said 60 per cent of the college’s 260 teachers employed on contract basis were concerned about their future.

Teachers said once the KMU was established, it would get Rs3 billion as annual grant from the HEC. They said it would not only improve healthcare facilities but would also provide better service structure to teachers.

“We are concerned about malpractice of doctors. They will exploit establishment of the university to their advantage,” said an official who is a member of the committee given the task to review the proposed bill.