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The capital’s rural areas have 14 basic health units (BHUs) and three rural health centres (RHC) that are supposed to cater to about half a million population.
There are 33 sanctioned posts for doctors in the health department of Islamabad Capital Territory administration, but only 13 positions have been filled.
The state of medical facilities available to the rural population can be gauged from the photographs.
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| Execution of this RHC project for Tarnol area has been delayed so long that it will be redundant even if completed because the entire area now forms sectors G-15 and F-15 and the rural population it was meant for moved away. It is unlikely that future residents of the upscale sectors would ever seek its services. |
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| What exactly brought it the bad luck is not known. Some say the missing plaque at this vacant space on a wall, which said the upgraded facility was inaugurated by the then prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on April 27, 2014, provides a hint. But the semi-official explanation is that the plaque fell off and the RHC is so short of funds that it cannot afford to refix it. |
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| A village woman has the sense enough to bring her son to a rural health centre to be vaccinated against polio. But the poor vaccinator is no less to be praised for he covers a vast area to protect children from the disease. His duty is to administer polio drops and other EPI vaccines in all the villages from Golra to Talhar beyond Daman-i-Koh in the Margalla Hills. |
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| Absence of funds has forced the administration of BHU in Shah Allah Ditta village to set up a ‘dressing room’ in the store room. Minor injuries are treated at the ‘dressing room’ but there is no chair or relevant equipment available for the patients. |
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| All that of significance the basic health unit in Shah Allah Ditta village has to show is the ubiquitous board listing the officers who headed the medical centre. No one bothered to update the board after Medical Officer Nadeem Ahmad Gondal took charge of the facility in 1992. |
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| In sharp contrast to the pathetic condition of other health centres in rural Islamabad, this rural health centre at Bhara Kahu is refreshingly well furnished and well equipped. It too had existed in deplorable conditions but its fortunes changed in 2011 when it was upgraded to a 20-bed hospital. It got all basic medical facilities such as X-ray and ultrasound machines. A mother and child health centre was added to it. But bad luck struck when the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences it was affiliated to withdrew its support and recalled its doctors. Now its X-ray unit is non-functional and several services, like dentistry, have been closed. |
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| Construction of a 200-bed hospital at Tarlai was proposed in 1990 but all one sees at the site after quarter of a century is a sign board - with one leg gone. Funnily, the Islamabad administration regularly clears and levels the ‘proposed site’, maybe just to keep hopes alive. |
Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2014
