KOHAT: The health department has restored the category ‘A’ status of the KDA teaching hospital and sanctioned over Rs175 million for the upgradation of wards and emergency fulfilling the longstanding demand of the people. The category ‘A’ status was withdrawn shortly after the hospital’s opening in 2010.

However, sources said that the CT scan and MRI facilities, which were approved in the trauma center in 2011, had been excluded for unknown reasons. The trauma center is lying dysfunctional after construction of its building with an initial grant of Rs5 million in 2014 inside the hospital.

When contacted, KDA hospital medical superintendent Mohammad Ali Chohan said on Thursday said that under the government policy the CT scan and MRI facilities had to be provided with the public-private partnership. He said that last year only one application was received in this regard.

As it lacked competitors the government launched another advertisement with a decision that if this time nobody else applied the earlier applicant would be awarded the contract. But due to unknown reasons the government was not considering the applicant.

MS says govt has sanctioned Rs175m for Kohat hospital

Answering a question, he said that in case of serious bullet wounds the patients would now be treated in Kohat. He said that earlier such patients had to be referred to Peshawar.

Dr Chohan said that the government had allocated Rs175 million for the hospital to make up for the deficiencies and also sanctioned Rs99 million for standardisation of basic health units.

Similarly all vacant posts in the BHUs would be filled for which over 500 fresh doctors had been recruited. He stated that 92 posts of doctors were lying vacant in the KDA hospital.

MPA Najma Shaheen, traders leader Haji Abid and other local leaders have demanded establishment of a fully-equipped trauma center. They regretted that the medical college had been running without facilities of immense importance for eight long years.

MURDER CASE: The police resolved the murder case of a lady teacher and arrested her daughter-in-law along with her male accomplice in this connection.

The cantonment police said that a lady teacher, Gul Rehana of Behzadi Chakarkot, was killed. They said that later the police on the basis of statements of neighbours raided a house in Miangan Colony and arrested Sher Bano and her accomplice Abid and recovered the pistol allegedly used in the murder.

The female accused was sent to prison while the male one was given in police custody on physical remand by the court.

Meanwhile, the police arrested three women for smuggling drugs. A statement issued by the DPO office said on Thursday that the police stopped a car near Lachi toll plaza and seized 11 kilogrammes of hashish and one kilogramme of opium. They also arrested Basera, Dil Khudara and Iqra Akhtar, all residents of Bannu.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2017