KP CM orders completion of DHQ hospitals revamp by end of fiscal year

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi on Thursday directed the authorities concerned to complete the revamping of District Headquarters (DHQ) hospitals across the province by the end of the current fiscal year, warning that no further delay in the public welfare project would be tolerated.
Chairing a high-level meeting at the Chief Minister’s House to review progress on the “Revamping of Secondary Care District Headquarters Hospitals” project, the chief minister instructed all relevant departments to accelerate the pace of work and ensure timely completion.
The meeting reviewed progress made so far, implementation challenges and the way forward, while officials briefed the chief minister on various aspects of the project.
Mr Afridi directed the authorities to prioritise hospitals requiring comparatively less development work so that they could be completed and made operational at the earliest, enabling the public to benefit from modern healthcare services without delay.
He also instructed officials to identify and remove all bottlenecks hampering implementation, reiterating that avoidable delays would not be accepted under any circumstances.
The chief minister said progress on the project would be reviewed again after three months and stressed that substantial headway should be achieved before the next review meeting.
He observed that, alongside the rehabilitation and upgradation of DHQ hospitals, Rural Health Centres (RHCs) and Basic Health Units (BHUs), the proposed Health City project remained one of the provincial government’s foremost priorities.
Directing the authorities to expedite work on the Health City initiative, Mr Afridi said the project should move into the implementation phase as early as possible.
He said the provincial government was investing significant resources in rehabilitating and modernising existing healthcare facilities while simultaneously pursuing strategic initiatives such as the Health City project to meet the province’s growing healthcare needs and ensure the provision of modern, quality and sustainable health services.
The chief minister also directed officials to take all necessary measures for the early completion of the Khyber Institute of Child Health and other ongoing health sector development projects, assuring them of the provincial government’s full support.
Officials informed the meeting that four separate PC-I schemes, with a cumulative approved cost of Rs33.085 billion, had been sanctioned for the revamping of 32 secondary care District Headquarters hospitals across the province.
They said procurement of modern medical equipment worth Rs2.55bn had been completed and the equipment had already been delivered to the respective hospitals. The meeting was further informed that infrastructure designs for the hospitals had been approved, while civil works were expected to begin shortly.