PESHAWAR, June 18: Insufficient staff and equipments was adversely affecting the functioning of the Police and Services Hospital, members of hospital staff told Dawn on Wednesday.

Commissioned in 1854, it was the first hospital at the time that provided healthcare facilities to the people of Peshawar.

Nine years ago, a master plan was made to turn the hospital  into a full-fledged one, adding 140 beds to different wards. The programme also included establishing of ICU, CCU, Casualty Ward and operation theatres.

However, the plan was rendered futile when the health department established Emergency Satellite Hospital (ESH) on Kohat Road, where most of the staffers and doctors were shifted.

Expensive equipments were also taken to the ESH.

Initially, it was planned that the medical superintendent of Police and Services Hospital would also be supervising functioning of the ESH, and the staff and equipments shifted from there would be returned.

In January 2001 the ESH was declared a separate facility and the staff and equipments were kept.

Adding to the miseries, in November 2002 NWFP Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah during his visit to the hospital ordered the repair work, which had then begun, to stop. Thus out of Rs5 million that had been allocated by the health department only Rs1.7 million were spent on repair and renovation work of the hospital. The rest of Rs3.7 million were returned to the department, complying with the governor’s directives.

The Police and Services Hospital still awaits proper facilities despite having the required infrastructure.