Senate body informed: KPK only province without specialised public sector children’s hospital

ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services and Regulations, Tuesday, was informed that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) was the only province in the country without a specialised public sector children’s hospital.

The Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services and Regulations, which met here under the chairmanship of Senator Dr Muhammad Humayun Mohmand, while discussing the matter pertaining to the construction of Khyber Institute of Child Health and Children Hospital Peshawar was informed the said project have to be completed in 2016 but, unfortunately, due to paucity of funds it has not been completed yet and delayed in fund allocation have doubled the project cost.

Senator Professor Mehr Taj Roghani, mover of the matter, stated that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was the only province having no childcare hospital, adding that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government kept on making huge claims regarding revolutionizing the health sector but during 10 years’ rule in the province it has failed to setup a single child care health facility.

She maintained that construction of Child Care Hospital could be initiated if the federal government released their promised share of funds. The chairman committee asked the Finance Ministry for the timely provision of funds for the Child Care Hospital in KPK.

Additionally, Senator Prof Dr Roghani highlighted the issue of breastfeeding and stated that bottle feeding is the primary reason of diarrhoea and nutrient deficiency in the children.

She said that Rs100 billion has been spent annually on artificial milk and in order to combat this growing trend, mass awareness drive should be launched for young couples. She also suggested that the federal government should make legislation for breastfeeding along the lines of “Sindh Protection and Protection of Breast Feeding and Young Child Nutrition Act,2023”.

The senate committee was briefed about the precautionary measures taken by the District Administration and Health Department for the Prevention of Dengue in Islamabad Capital Territory. District Health Officer (DHO) Islamabad Dr Zaeem Zia said that the health department with the collaboration of district administration has visited around 182,112 hotspots in rural areas and 64,743 hotspots in urban areas, besides that Section 144 has been imposed in the Capital Territory and wrongdoers have also been fined in order to control the spread of dengue virus.

The DHO claimed that the cases of dengue virus in 2023 will be certainly low as compared to 6,415 cases in 2022. The chair committee deferred the deliberations and decided to take up the matter at the end of December in order to make the comparative analysis of 2023 with the previous year.

While discussing the current status of Mother Child Hospital which is being constructed in PIMS with the collaboration of Japan, Mirza Nasirud Din Mashhood Ahmad, the special secretary for National Health Services stated that the civil work has been completed and machinery will be installed by the end of July2023.

However, the general equipment worth around Rs3.6 million could not be procured because of a government ban on imports. The chairman committee directed the Finance Ministry to lift the ban on the import of essential items so that the necessary equipment for Mother Child Hospital could be procured at the earliest.

Furthermore, the matter of MRI machines in PIMS was deliberated upon. Officials apprised the LCs have been opened for the procurement of MRI machines with the efforts of the Finance Ministry and the State Bank of Pakistan. However, the first MRI machine would be installed by the 6th of September, officials maintained.

Moreover, as to the matter of financial embezzlements in 250 bedded “Isolation Hospital and Infectious Treatment Centre Islamabad” which was initiated by the NDMA in Covid-19 and eventually, handed over to the Ministry of Health, the special secretary National Health Services apprised that the ministry has no prior knowledge of any financial irregularity, however, federal audit is conducting special audit of the hospital and the report will be presented before the standing committee once it is concluded.

The meeting was attended by senators, Prof Dr Roghani, Rubina Khalid, Jam Mahtab Hussain Dahar, Bahramand Khan Tangi, Fawzia Arshad, and Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tareen, Special Secretary NHSR&C Mirza Nasirud Din Mashhood Ahmad, District Health Officer ICT Zaeem Zia, Deputy Commissioner ICT Irfan Memon, and other senior officers of relevant departments were also in attendance.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023