A high-level meeting, held with provincial governor Lieutenant General Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah (Retd) in the chair at the Governor House here on Friday, decided to take more result-oriented initiatives to reactivate the sole paraplegic centre of the country working at Hayatabad, Peshawar and as an initial step, its board of directors has been re-constituted.
The meeting, attended among others, by provincial minister for Health Anayatullah Khan, secretary Health Dr Ihsanul Haq, Dr Tariq Nishtar, chairman NWFP branch of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, further decided that in future the board will work under the patronage of the governor whereas the provincial minister for Health and the chairman of the Red Crescent Society would be its chairman and vice-chairmen respectively.
The meeting was also informed that a sum of Rs 20 million has already been earmarked in the current annual development programme and with the resolution of administrative problems positive results are expected to usher in the due course of time.
Speaking on the occasion, the governor said that no doubts this remained highly a glorious and beneficial institution since its inception in 1984 for quite some time yet the organisation has become totally ineffective mainly due to the financial constraints.
"In such circumstances," he added, "it has become vital to take immediate measures to resolve the issue."
Talking about the prevailing state of affairs of the organisation, he said that concrete measures have to be taken to make it accessible to the common man. In fact, he remarked, "we are interested in the revival of this institution in true spirit" and expressed the confidence that with new initiatives, it would again serve the ailing humanity in the real sense.
Earlier, secretary Health and Dr Sher Muhammad Khan briefed the meeting about the prevailing state of affairs of the Centre as well as the proposed future plan of action for its revival.