Eight hospitals handed over to NGOs.

PESHAWAR -- The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has outsourced eight hospitals, including six in newly-merged tribal districts and two in Chitral, to nongovernmental organisations for three years to improve their performance for better patient care.

Agreements for the purpose were signed at the offices of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Foundation here on Friday.

The hospitals, all Type D ones, are located in Toikhula and Mola Khan Srai Sarokai areas of South Waziristan tribal district, Dogar area of Kurram tribal district, Mamad Gat area of Mohmand tribal district, Darazinda area of former Frontier Region Dera Ismail Khan, Ghiljo area of Orakzai tribal district and Mastung and Garam Chashma areas of Chitral district.

Four of them will be managed by the Medical Emergency Resilience Foundation (Merf), two by the Aga Khan Health Services and one each by Transcontinental and National Integrated Development Association (Nida).

Finance and health minister Taimur Khan Jhagra presided over the agreement signing ceremony, a statement said.

Special assistant to the chief minister Ghazan Jamal was also present.

Mr Jhagra said one of his first targets set for the Health Foundation after he assumed the charge was to outsource those health facilities.

He congratulated HF managing director Dr Jan Baz Afridi and his team for completing the process 'swiftly and transparently'.

'The outsourcing of eight hospitals is important for two main reasons. First, it will enhance service delivery in these districts, especially during the pandemic, and secondly, it is in line with the prime minister's vision to improve health services,' he said.

The minister said there should be more public-private partnerships in the province.

He said there was a big responsibility for both...