Dir hospital lacks facilities,People suffer

The News

The District Headquarters Hospital Upper Dir has a three-storey building and caters to more than 700,000 people but the lack of facilities and doctors has drawn the ire of local people.

Those visiting the hospital said like the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government, the incumbent ANP-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has also failed to improve its condition despite making promises.

“We are faced with a host of problems and the shortage of doctors is the biggest one. There are 57 sanctioned posts for doctors but 41 have been vacant since long, hindering the treatment of an enormous number of patients who visit the hospital,” said Medical Superintendent Dr Ghani Rahman.

He said only one doctor in Grade 18 was working out of 19 sanctioned posts. “Ten posts of Grade 17 doctors are lying vacant. In fact, the hospital is being run by six medical officers, four specialist doctors and two lady doctors,” he said.

Dr Ghani Rahman said children, medical, surgical and ENT specialists were available but the posts of gynaecologist, cardiologist, orthopaedic and others had been lying vacant for years.

Even minor complications prompt patients to go to hospitals in Peshawar and other cities. On February 16, a suicide bomb attack fractured bones of two victims, but due to absence of orthopaedic facility they were flown to Peshawar.

Women with pregnancy related complications are also compelled to visit other cities and some even die in the process. Hopes of the local people are dashing as they are confronting problems on a daily basis due to shortage of doctors.

Dr Laiqzada, a former medical superintendent of the hospital, suggested that legislation should be introduced in the provincial assembly making it mandatory for trainee medical officers in the three teaching hospitals of the province to perform duty in districts for at least four months. “It will put an end to shortage of doctors in the districts,” he said.

People have criticised MNA from Upper Dir Najmuddin Khan, who also served as a federal minister in the current PPP-led government, for failing to fill the huge number of openings for doctors.

The residents say the provincial health minister belongs to the Pakistan People’s Party but Najmuddin Khan and PPP MPA Muhammad Anwar Khan from the district had failed to provide any relief to the locals. “Those who were taunting the MMA government for the bad condition of the hospital are now acting as spectators despite being in the government. The hospital has been in a pathetic condition for years but the elected representatives of the district are least bothered about improving its condition,” said Ihsanullah, a resident of Dir.

The chief minister had also promised to fill all the vacant posts of doctors and nurses but he could not keep his word so far, he added.