PESHAWAR: Provincial government has planned to extend Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act to Pakistan Institute of Prosthetic and Orthotic Sciences, Paraplegic Centre Peshawar and Saidu Group of Teaching Hospitals, Swat.

Health department is considering a proposal submitted by Insaf Doctors Forum (IDF) in this regard but the final authority rests with Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, who is likely to take a decision on the matter, according to sources.

IDF, a staunch supporter of PTPs health reforms programme, had also played crucial role in the implementation of Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act (MTIRA). It is now trying to bring more institutes under the same law and further improve their performance.

MTIRA was passed by provincial assembly in 2015 and subsequently enforced in 10 teaching hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a phase-wised manner. IDF has written a letter to health department that these institutions should be brought under MTIRA.

`We are going to talk to chief minister very soon,` a senior office-bearer of IDF told Dawn.

Meanwhile, health department has sought comments from heads of institutions about the plan and so far Pakistan Institute ofProsthetic and Orthotic Sciences (PIPOS) has submitted comments on the matter.

According to the law, MTIRA covers the entire province and shall apply to all existing medical teaching institutions in the public sector and such other institutions as government may establish or may have been established.

Therefore, the government will face no issue in covering any institute under the law.

Both the PIPOSE and Paraplegic Centre play vital role in rehabilitation services and establishing a single Board of Governors for them under the MTIRA along with an updated Act, specific to their rehabilitation mission, would improve their operational efficiency and ensure high quality patients` care.

The IDF`s proposal states that Saidu Group of Teaching Hospitals presently lacks BoG and has requested for appointment of board on urgent to ensure effective management. It will also strengthen the capacity of the hospital.

Sources said that provincial government was lending support to the IDF`s proposal regarding health reforms as its activists played important part in the enforcement of MTIRA.

Established in 1984 for provision of rehabilitation services to physical challenged patients, PIPOS was declared an autonomous institution by provincial government in October 1999. It has been offering four-year degree programme in prosthetic and orthotic sciences from Khyber Medical University (KMU).

It has pioneered the prosthetic and orthotic sciences and is imparting training in rehabilitation services to physically chal-lenged persons and supporting them to become independent and active members of the society.

Governed by an Act of parliament, (Paraplegic Centre, Taking over and Re-establishment, Act 2009), Paraplegic Centre Peshawar (PCP) is an autonomous body working under the health department to provide free of cost, comprehensive physical rehabilitation services to people including skilled physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech language pathology, orthotic management, psychological counselling, recreational activities and social support.

It is run by a board, which includes secretaries of health, social welfare and finance; vicechancellor of Khyber Medical University and other qualified and technicalpeople.

After Russian`s invasion of Afghanistan, international organisations set up a small facility in University Town area of Peshawar but as time passed it became difficult for them to carry on the programme. Subsequently, the government established the centre over 20-kanal in Hayatabad after which there was no looking back and it started receiving patients from Afghanistan and all parts of Pakistan.

The centre has been playing vital role in skills building and community re-integration. It is providing customised wheelchairs, adoptive and supportive equipment and follow-up services to patients including minor home modifications, medical and nursing care of people with post traumatic spinal cord injuries, postpolio paralysis, spinal tumours besides treatment and management of children with autism and clubfoot.