CHITRAL: Unavailability of specialist and general duty doctors, shortage of medicines, lack of diagnostic facilities and unhygienic conditions in the hospitals mar delivery of efficient healthcare to patients in Chitral.

This was pointed out at the periodical meeting of the district development platform for health organised by the Project for Poverty Reduction, an Italian-funded initiative of the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP).

The participants lamented that the budget earmarked for the tehsil headquarters hospitals and the rural health centres was not rationalised to cater to the needs.

They said most of the primary and secondary care hospitals were devoid of basic requirements and facilities while absence of electricity was a problem common to all hospitals due to which X-ray machines remained non-functional and the patients had to go to the district headquarters hospital for seeking treatment.

On the occasion, district health officer Javaid Ahmed said the development platform launched a few months ago in the two union councils of Drosh, had made headway in creating awareness about health and hygiene among the people.

The participants highlighted the issues facing the health sector with special reference to Drosh town. They termed the chain of district platforms and roundtable conferences as helpful in discussing the health issues and suggesting solutions to them.

They lamented that the allocation of budget for tehsil headquarters hospitals was not made proportionate to the strength of patients attended.

They said hospital of Drosh had a record strength of 85,000 outdoor patients, while that of Booni had only 9,000, Garam Chashma 8,000 and Torkhow less than 6,000, but the annual budget allocation was equal for all these hospitals.

They said Drosh hospital also faced the burden of patients coming from the Kunar province of Afghanistan via Arandu border, while five different valleys of Sheshi Koh, Jinjirat Kosh, Beori, Ursoon and Ashrait were also covered by this hospital.

The participants asked the government to make it mandatory on doctors hailing from Chitral to serve at least for five years in the district as they had taken admission in the medical colleges on the quota of the district.

On the occasion, district naib nazim Maulana Abdul Shakoor said discussions on issues related to public services was vital to improve them.

He said despite meager resources, the district government had prioritised the health sector and a number of measures were on the anvil which will make tangible changes in the sector.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2016