The people of Torghar are still without basic health services though it was granted the status of a settled district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa seven years ago.

“A young boy recently succumbed to his injuries at the local hospital in the absence of doctor,” said a resident, Mohammad Zahid. He said that the only doctor at the basic health unit in Judbah, the district headquarters of Torghar, had left the hospital in the evening when the boy who had received injuries after falling from a mountain was brought to this facility.

“We have still been living a miserable life even after change of tribal status of Torghar in 2011,” said Mr Zahid.

Torghar, which was previously tribal belt of Mansehra, was given the status of a settled district in 2011 through a presidential order, but owing to unavailability of health services the mother and infant mortality rate there is still much higher than other areas of the province. Tribesmen here are still reluctant to take their women to health facilities even in emergency.

“Yes, tribesmen here are still following centuries old customs and jirga system, but the government has done nothing to change their minds as women are still facing agonies of complicated deliveries in the hands of unskilled birth attendants,” said Mr Zahid.

Torghar district, which is spread over 400 square kilometres and has a total population of 171,395, is a difficult mountainous area and still dependent on 10 basic health units (BHUs), of which six are still without doctors.

Awami National Party, which had given this tribal belt a status of 25th district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had announced Rs4 billion development package for its people, but the funds never reached here.

An official data sent to the provincial health department reveals a bleak picture of health care delivery system in the district. The coverage of fully immunised children in Torghar is reportedly 14 per cent compared to 53 per cent in rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The antenatal care coverage is 17 per cent compared to 60 per cent, while skilled birth attendance stands at 18 per cent against 48 per cent in other districts.

The data about maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and infant mortality ratio (IMR) is not available as there is no mother and child health care programme in the district. The institutional deliveries in the district stand at 9 per cent compared to 41 per cent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The services of lady health workers and MNCH programme have not been started here as yet. There is an urgent need for starting community outreach services and delivering primary health care to the poor people.

The district health department has a total of 123 staffers while 20 posts are lying vacant. Ironically, there are only four doctors, all male, posted to the district. Also, there is no district headquarters hospital and tehsil headquarters hospitals in Torghar.

The district headquarters hospital, which was sanctioned in 2013 by the previous PTI-led government, couldn’t be started as yet.

The BHUs in Dore Mera and Mera Madakhail were upgraded to rural health centres (RHC) under the special development package in 2012, but these facilities are yet to be made functional as buildings and residential quarters have been completed, but approval for posting of doctors and medics is still awaited.

In this situation, patients are usually taken to hospitals in neighbouring Mansehra, Abbottabad, Battagram and Buner districts.

“The patients, mostly women and children, have been dying on way to hospitals in the neighbouring districts. We sanctioned Rs30 million for purchase of medicines, X-ray machines, ambulance and ultrasound unit during the last two financial years, but the KP health department is yet to procure all these things,” said district nazim Dilroz Khan. He said that nobody would believe that there was not a single X-ray machine and ultrasound facility in the whole district.

He said that solar refrigerators were given to 10 BHUs for preserving vaccines as those health facilities were without electricity. He said that the government should urgently take measures to protect lives of people of Torghar district.

When contacted, acting district health officer Dr Mohammad Naeem Awan said that under the Local Government Act 2017 the district government was bound to allocate 10 per cent of its annual development programme for health department, but they were not given this money for the last two consecutive financial years.

Dr Awan said that half of the schemes which were launched from funding of district ADP in financial year 2015-16 were still incomplete.

“We had sent a summary to the chief minister for approval of 20 civil dispensaries and he approved it, but the provincial finance department is yet to sanction the needed posts,” he said. He called for posting of lady health workers and starting MNCH programme on urgent basis to provide health care facilities to the local people.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2018