UPPER DIR: Provincial health minister Shahram Khan Tarakai has pledged to solve the problem of shortage of specialist doctors in the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital, Upper Dir, as soon as possible. He was talking to mediapersons during his visit to the hospital on Wednesday.

The minister went around various wards of the hospital, including emergency ward, diarrhoea ward, laboratory, etc. He expressed his anger over poor sanitation in the laboratory and wards of the hospital. He asked the hospital administration to open the closed washrooms in the diarrhoea ward for use of the patients.

Mr Tarakai said that he was visiting the hospital after consultation with lawmakers of Upper Dir. He said that the government was planning to install biometric system in the government hospitals to overcome the issue of doctors’ practice in private clinics during duty hours.

He said that most of the doctors did not want to perform duties in far-flung areas like Upper Dir. He said that the provincial government was planning to give some incentives and special allowance to motivate them to perform duties in remote areas.

The minister said that there was deficiency of around 400 doctors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that recently a total of 256 candidates applied for such posts and only 164 of them had qualified the test. He said that the vacant posts of doctors in the DHQ hospital would be filled from the ongoing recruitment process. He asked the medical superintendent to appoint two deputy medical superintendents in the hospital to ensure provision of treatment facilities to people round the clock.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2015

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