Khyber - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Health Qasim Ali Shah on Tuesday said necessary initiatives will be adopted to provide all basic health facilities to the tribesmen of merged tribal districts at their doorsteps.
Addressing a public gathering in Bara, the minister said that the merged tribal region had been neglected for decades, however, the incumbent provincial government will never forget them and priority will be given to them in development projects.
As per the vision of the PTI founder, health and education are on top of KP govt’s priority list and will be provided to every single resident of the province. He maintained that the problem of deficiency of health staff in Category-D Hospital of Bara will be met and needed health facilities will be ensured in the health centre to heal the ailing tribals.
Earlier, the provincial health minister visited Dogra Hospital Bara, checked treatment facilities in Outdoor Patient Departments (OPDs) of the health centre and interacted with the patients. District Health Officer (DHO), Dr Zafer briefed the minister about the prevailing position of the health centre.
Flanked by MNA Iqbal Afridi, MPAs Sohail Afridi and Abdul Ghani Afridi, the minister also inaugurated a 90KV solarisation scheme, water filtration plant, newly-established conference hall and lab in the Dogra Hospital, Bara. He upgraded the hospital from Category-D status to Category-C. He also vaccinated a child to open the polio drive in the the area.
Qasim Shah also announced plans to activate Tirah Hospital promptly by providing the necessary funds. He urged local leadership to visit hospitals, report their needs, and promised timely fulfilment of those requirements.
The minister was also briefed about the Zero Crossing Hospital located at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the performance of the Outbreak Response Committee. He was informed about non-functional health centres, of which 12 have been reactivated in the past two years.