PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has said that a US-based Pakistani doctor has been working on a plan to improve performance of the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, within three months.

Mr Khan, who reached LRH along with his wife Reham Khan without protocol on Tuesday, told reporters that he stayed away from coming to see the victims of the rainstorm on Monday on the advice of the doctors as the VIP visits tended to adversely affect the process of patients` treatment.

`I was in constant touch with Chief Minister Perez Khattak and ministers who updated me about the situation with regard to the relief activities in the aftermath of the tragedy,` he said. The PTI chief said that the VIP movement had been the main cause of creating hindrance in the patients` treatment and advised that unnecessary visits be discouraged to ensure smooth treatment of the critically injured people.

`We have passed laws and work is in progress to make health delivery system effective as the system couldn`t be improved through old laws,` he said.

Flanked by KP health minister Shahram Tarakai, he said that a US-based Pakistani doctor Nausherwan Burki had volunteered to help the provincial government in improvement of patients` care initially at the LRH and subsequently inother public sector health institutions.

`Professor Burki, who built Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Lahore and Peshawar, is working in collaboration with the KP senior doctors to bring improvements in health care network and benefit the patients,` he said. The LRH will become a model health care institution in the country, he said.

The PTI chairman said that under the KP government`s health reforms programme, the teaching hospitals, including LRH, would be run by independent board of governors who would take professional decisions to strengthen services for the better diagnosis and treatment of the people.

Earlier, he drove the car to LRH, went to its different wards and inquired after the victims. The hospital administration briefed the PTI leader about the condition of the patients and efforts being made for their treatment.

`I deliberately came here in the afternoon so as not to affect the patient care,` he said. About criticism of political parties that the chief minister didn`t visit the hospital, he said that PTI was not interested in photo sessions and publicity and wanted to help the people.

Mr Khan said that it had been proven in the past that heavy rush of people and VIP visits had affected the treatment of those who received injuries in bombs attacks and therefore, the doctors had been asking the people to stay away from coming to hospitals during mass emergencies. The ultimate sufferers of such visits are the people who require urgent attention, he said.

`The chief minister and his cabinet colleagues have been working more but don`t spend money on their publicity.

They work more but don`t disclose it,` he said. On the occasion, he also appreciated the doctors, nurses and paramedics for their devotion to the treatment of people and said that the province was set to put in place a best health care system at the government hospitals. Bureau Report