KOHAT: The repeated appeals of people to the government to place the KDA divisional headquarters hospital in category ‘A’ have fallen on deaf ears since the 300-bed facility became functional in year 2000.

Officials said that the KDA medical complex, which was designed to provide all modern treatment facilities under one roof to millions of people living in the southern part of the province and reduce rush on the Peshawar hospitals, was still understaffed and its category had been thrice changed.

On the day of its inauguration by then governor in Sept 2000 he had placed it in category ‘A’. The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government soon after coming into power degraded it to category ‘C’ and announced that all machinery sanctioned for the hospital be shifted to Peshawar.

Following protests by the local parliamentarians and public representatives the governor intervened and the government placed it in category ‘B’ and then upgraded it to an ‘A’ grade hospital, but sans facilities, the situation that still persisted.

The people have to go to Peshawar and Islamabad by risking their lives due to travelling long distances and spend a lot of money on staying and paying the fee of tests and doctors.

Dr Hameedullah Jan told Dawn that without upgradation of the hospital to category ‘A’ it could not get full-fledged cardiology and other wards and the related facilities and equipments like defibrillator, angiography, MRI, CT Scan, and trauma centre which could save many lives and were necessary for training of students of the medical college.

How would they treat patients if they learnt nothing in the vital fields? The extra burden of over 100,000, displaced families had made these facilities more essential.

“We have been hearing that the hospital is being placed in category ‘A’ for years, but have seen nothing in blue print which shows how much we care for our poor sick people,” he said.

Medical experts said that if in the coming few years attention was not paid to the KDA hospital it would seize to provide whatever negligible services it was giving to the people.

Medical superintendent of the KDA hospital, Dr Naseem Jan, said that he had been writing to the director general health and told him personally that after the start of medical college in Kohat and declaration of the hospital as teaching facility it must be placed in category ‘A’.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2016