LAKKI MARWAT: Bettani tribesmen of Frontier Region, Lakki Marwat, on Wednesday held a demonstration outside the district headquarters complex, Tajazai, demanding staff and facilities at schools and hospitals in the region.

The tribal people gathered in the open ground in front of Tajazai complex and also set up a protest camp there. They used drum beaters to get the attention of people and government officials coming to the DHQ complex.

On this occasion, the tribal elders said that some of the schools and hospitals in FR Lakki were closed since long as teachers, doctors and paramedics did not perform duty. They said that the road infrastructure was in poor condition while several tribal localities lacked electricity.

They said that there was a severe shortage of staff in the government schools and hospitals, putting the future of their children and lives of patient at stake. They also demanded opening of Nadra office in FR Lakki, saying that presently they had to go to the Nadra office in Lakki city.

They asked the government and political administration to set up Nadra office in Tajori town and resolve other problems of the tribesmen. MNA Qaiser Jamal also visited the camp and assured the protesters of playing a role for solution of their problems. Later, a delegation of elders, led by Zaitullah Khan, met political agent Zafar Ali Shah at his office and requested him to play his role in resolving the problems being faced by the tribal people.

Mr Shah assured them that the administration would take action against the teachers and health workers skipping duties. He asked the agency surgeon and agency education officer to shift their offices to Mastikhel and take steps for making the schools and hospitals functional. The political agent also directed the agency surgeon to conduct fumigation in the entire Frontier Region to prevent mosquito-borne diseases.

NEW BLOCK AT HOSPITAL: District development advisory committee (DDAC) chairman and JUI-F MPA Munawar Khan Marwat inaugurated the newly-built emergency block in Government City Hospital here on Wednesday.

District health officer Dr Nek Nawaz, MS Dr Ghulam Ali, doctors and notables of the town were present on the occasion. The DHO said that besides emergency block work on the radiology and X-rays blocks and postmortem room had also been completed.

He said that the project of reconstruction of city hospital would be completed with the cost of Rs113 million. He said that construction work on seven new wards would begin in the next couple of days. The MPA said on the occasion that he would request the provincial government to allocate funds for the construction of residential facilities for doctors and paramedics. He claimed that the new departments would be provided with modern medical equipments and machinery so as to ensure better service delivery. —Correspondent

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2014