PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has ordered the completion and operationalisation of the Khyber Institute of Child Health in Peshawar by 2023 and said a committee comprising the relevant health department officials would be formed for the purpose.

He was chairing a meeting called here the other day to review progress on the KICH project.

Health minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, labour minister Shaukat Yousafzai, high-ups of health department and members of the Paediatric Association of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also attended the meeting. The participants discussed various matters related to the KICH project. The chief minister said the KICH was a very significant healthcare project meant to make the institute a centre of excellence in child health.

He said the proposed committee in consultation with senior paediatricians of the province would finalise a workable strategy along with realistic timelines to completely operationalise the institute by 2023.

Mahmood Khan says panel to devise strategy for complete KICH operationalisation

Mr Mahmood said the committee would also suggest measures to operationalise some of the priority specialties in the institute in short term. He directed the high-ups of the health department to take necessary steps to constitute a separate board of governors for the institute to ensure that the institute is managed in a better and professional manner.

Currently, the KICH is overseen by the board of governors of the Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar.

Senior doctors associated with the Paediatrics Association of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa shared expert opinion about the operationalisation of some priority areas in the institute and how to make the institute a centre of excellence in future.

The officials briefed participants about the progress on the under-construction KICH and related matters and said 85 per cent of work on the building had been completed, so some important and priority sectors could be operationalised there.

Regarding the importance and need of the institute, they said currently, the province had around 2,000 specialised beds for child-related diseases but actual need was very high and therefore, the KICH should be completed and completely operationalised at the earliest.

The officials said the institute would not only provide quality facilities for the treatment of paediatric diseases in the province but also prepare trained doctors and other medical staff members in the field and conduct research and collect authentic data regarding paediatric diseases.

The chief minister said the health sector’s development was the top priority of his government, which was spending huge sums of money on the strengthening of the healthcare system to cater for the needs of the growing population.

He said the recent launch of the Health Card Plus Scheme for the province’s entire population and the completion of the Peshawar Institute of Cardiology were significant achievements of the provincial government in the health sector.

Mr Mahmood said the completion and full operationalisation of the KICH by 2023 would be another landmark achievement of the provincial government.

He directed the relevant officials of the health department to take necessary steps to take up the issues related to the funding of the scheme at federal level.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2021