PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has planned to establish a 500-bed modern tertiary care hospital in Peshawar under public-private partnership on the land acquired by the health department 30 years ago.

Last week, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and the provincial government for the greenfield project, which is the first of its kind in healthcare sector in the country and will benefit over 150,000 people annually.

Officials told Dawn that the IFC had vast experience in executing such projects.

They said a tertiary care hospital cost Rs15-Rs20 billion, an amount not affordable for the government, so the IFC would find an international firm for that investment.

Initiative to benefit over 150,000 people annually

The officials said once the investor was found and selected, the government would negotiate terms and condition for the project with it leading to the signing of the agreement.

They said the initiative was part of the government’s plan to establish four more tertiary care hospitals in the province, one each in Peshawar, Malakand, Hazara and southern regions.

The officials said the first project was being executed in Peshawar due to the availability of land.

They said after the signing of the MoU, the provincial government awarded the contract to the IFC to assist the government in identifying the potential firm.

The officials said there were several examples of establishing such hospitals worldwide through such arrangements, especially in Dubai, where chains of health facilities had been established under public-private partnership.

They said a piece of land measuring over 100 kanals was acquired near the Ring Road, Peshawar, in early 90s to build the Benazir Bhutto Hospital but the project couldn’t be executed in the next over three decades leaving the land valuing billions of rupees unutlised.

The officials said even after the hospital’s establishment, its land would continue to be property of the health department.

They said the government would sign a MoU with the selected financer regarding the hospital’s establishment, benefits of patients, and utilisation of the Sehat Card Plus and other modalities under the law.

When contacted, provincial additional director-general (health services) Dr Ikramullah Khan said after the signing of the contract, the IFC had received expression of interest from eight firms and that it would take presentations from the interested parties and receive technical proposals before short-listing one of them to be given request for proposal.

Meanwhile, the IFC has hired the services of legal, environment and technical consultants to start work on the project. The government will select a firm thereafter and will sign an agreement with it regarding modalities for the project.

The officials said the population of Peshawar had grown by 52 per cent over the last two decades and that it, in addition to pandemics, including the ongoing one of coronavirus, and an influx of patients from surrounding districts and Afghanistan, increased burden on healthcare facilities.

They said the IFC would also help the government carry out a ‘transparent and competitive bidding process’ to select a private sector developer and operator for the hospital, which would deliver tertiary care.

According to officials, the proposed hospital, the first in the country to be based on the greenfield public-private partnership, will serve over 150,000 people annually.

They said Peshawar was the sixth largest city in Pakistan with a population of around two million and accounted for nearly a third of the province’s hospital admissions and the the initiative would ensure accessibility of patients to quality tertiary healthcare across the province.

The officials said the project was part of the World Bank Group’s strategy for Pakistan to support private sector development, create markets, and accelerate improvements in public service delivery.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2022