Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has sought Rs. 2.9 billion in annual operational funding to make Peshawar’s 300-bed Children Hospital functional, as the long-delayed facility continues to await its formal opening.
The Khyber Institute of Child Health (KICH) and its affiliated children’s hospital were launched by the federal government 14 years ago and were originally expected to become operational within three years.
However, the hospital is still not functional, with funding requirements and the pending handover of the building by the Communication and Works Department remaining the main hurdles.
Sources in the Health Department said Rs. 2.9 billion has been requested for the hospital’s annual operational expenses for the current year. A separate one-time amount of Rs. 500 million has also been sought for the purchase of power generators.
According to the sources, an uninterrupted power supply is essential for the hospital’s operations.
They added that authorities have also requested Rs. 4 billion for operational costs, with the relevant summary currently under process for approval.
The delay in handing over the building has further held up the opening of the facility. Sources said the Communication and Works Department had already received the full amount allocated under the project’s PC-1, but some work still remains incomplete.
They said officials had been hearing for the past eight months that the building would be handed over within a month, but the process has yet to be completed.
A senior member of the Pakistan Paediatrics Association (PPA) said the hospital was expected to become operational on September 1, but the deadline passed without the facility opening.
He said pediatricians were making efforts through different channels to speed up the process and added that the hospital could become operational within one month if the building is handed over and the required funding is released.
The PPA member also pointed out that all provinces except Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have more than one dedicated children’s hospital.
The Peshawar facility has already been declared a Medical Teaching Institution following a demand by the PPA. The move was aimed at allowing its Board of Governors to make decisions independently and speed up administrative matters.
However, sources said the hospital is still a new institution and requires direct government funding before it can begin regular operations.
Once functional, it will start receiving its share of funds allocated to other MTIs.
Officials said KICH and the Children Hospital are expected to play a wider role in pediatric healthcare across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by training pediatricians, nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare workers.
The facility will also provide postgraduate training opportunities in pediatric subspecialties, reducing the need for doctors to travel to other provinces for such training.
Officials added that the hospital could eventually develop into a center of excellence for child healthcare and medical training in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and beyond.
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