OUR CORRESPONDENT
MARDAN Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mehmood Khan Tuesday said the provincial government had made procurement of Rs1.3 billion equipment including masks, gloves, sanitizers, protective kits and others out of Rs8 billion package released to provincial health department. He arrived here on his maiden visit to the district after becoming chief minister and reviewed situation and measures in the wake of corona pandemic and closure of Manga Tehsil due to corona cases. Talking to media persons later, he said due to shortage of equipment in the market and delivery problems the government was facing problems in procurement process, however, he assured that soon the issue of shortage of necessary equipment for frontline forces in the war against corona would be resolved. The CM said that he was monitoring the whole process of procurement, availability of necessary facilities, lockdown situation and other problems being faced in the wake of corona pandemic and said the government was committed to facilitating masses in this hour of disaster. He said the provincial government had announced relief assistance package for the province and soon the disbursement would start, adding that no discrimination would be made in disbursement of relief assistance. He further said that Mardan was the second biggest district of the province after Peshawar and the provincial government would also cater its needs, adding that he had visited corona affected districts of D I Khan, Bannu and now had come to Mardan which he said was second home to him. Meanwhile Khyber Pakhtubkhwa Chief Minister, Mahmood Khan Tuesday seek excused from receiving ‘Guard of Honor’ by KP police over a plea that health teams including doctors, nurses, paramedics and others fighting the corona virus endemic deserve such honors. During a visit to Quarantine Center set up at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, a smart contingent of KP Police arrived to present Guard of Honor to the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister while seeking excuse from receiving the honor remarked that doctors, nurses, paramedics and officials of other relevant departments deserve such honor for rendering their valuable services in the noble cause of fighting the deadly corona virus infection.
