KP lawmakers oppose outsourcing plan for 'high-performing' hospitals

PESHAWAR: Treasury members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday raised objections to the proposed outsourcing of public hospitals they said were performing satisfactorily, and asked the government to exclude such facilities from the list of health centres planned for contracting out to the private sector.

The matter was first taken up by treasury MPA Obaidur Rehman during a sitting chaired by MPA Mohammad Israr. Through a calling attention notice, Mr Rehman said the government had decided to outsource health facilities with weak patient care as well as poor administrative and financial performance, and that the Samar Bagh tehsil headquarters hospital in Lower Dir had been included on the basis of an old survey.

He told the house that the hospital’s performance was satisfactory and argued that it should therefore not be outsourced. Treasury lawmaker Mehboob Sher similarly said the Ghalanai tehsil headquarters hospital in Mohmand tribal district was also among the facilities marked for outsourcing despite, according to him, performing well. He demanded that it be removed from the list.

The chair directed health department officials to meet both lawmakers and address their concerns. He said that if the legislators were not satisfied, a meeting would be arranged with the health minister on the issue.

MPA Liaquat Khan said Samar Bagh hospital was a teaching hospital of a medical college and that its outsourcing had been decided in a cabinet meeting. He said the relevant house committee should decide the matter. MPA Anwar Zeb Khan said the Bashat Type-D hospital in Bajaur tribal district had been outsourced in 2022 for better performance.

MPA Arshad Umarzai said hospitals were facing a shortage of doctors, though authorities were working to address the problem. He also complained about the lack of medicines and called for corrective steps, along with the upgradation of the district headquarters hospital in Umarzai to reduce pressure on tehsil headquarters hospitals.

Flood compensation concerns also raised

Lawmakers also highlighted what they described as the denial of compensation to people affected by recent floods in Swat. MPA Fazal Hakeem said nearly eight months had passed since flooding in Swat, but many victims had still not received compensation. He asked the chair to summon the relief secretary over the matter.

MPA Anwar Zeb said his constituency in Bajaur had been declared a calamity-hit area after several cloudburst incidents and said the relief department should compensate residents for damage to their property. He requested a ruling from the chair in this regard.

Housing Minister Dr Amjal Ali said the chair should send Mr Rehman’s calling attention notice to the relevant house committee and have it meet within three days to resolve the issue. Referring to Swat, he said a jirga had been held in which participants demanded compensation already announced by the government. He also urged the chair to call the relief secretary to the house.

The assembly later referred the matter to the relevant house committee with directions to immediately convene a meeting and hear the lawmakers’ grievances.

Community schools and legislation

During the session, opposition JUI-F MPA Rehana Ismail said she had been informed in response to her question that 337 community schools had been functioning in the merged districts since the region’s merger with KP in 2018. She said the total number of teachers in those schools was 639, meaning each school had around two teachers.

She further said she had been told that teachers were paid after the finance department released allowance funds. "The teachers are paid Rs30,000 a month, the amount lower than the minimum wage, and that, too, after a delay of months," she informed.

she complained, while asking the chair to refer the matter to the relevant house committee for discussion and recommendations. The chair accepted the request and issued directions.

The house also passed the KP Education Testing and Evaluation Agency Bill, 2026, tabled by Law Minister Aftab Alam Afridi. In addition, members adopted a Public Accounts Committee report on the provincial government’s accounts for the financial year 2018-19 after it was presented by MPA Abdul Salam Afridi.

The chair later adjourned the sitting until May 11.