SWABI: An oxygen production plant and an incinerator installed about a year ago in the Bacha Khan Medical Complex (BKMC) teaching hospital, Shahmansoor, are yet to be made functional.

BKMC is a major hospital of the district and after inauguration of Gajju Medical College, Swabi, it was made a teaching hospital.

The plaque fixed on the oxygen plant shows that then KP assembly speaker Asad Qaiser and provincial minister Shahram Tarakai inaugurated it on April 13, 2018, just ahead of the general elections.

On the day of inauguration, the oxygen plant was put to function, but sources said that afterwards it could not be operated for a single day due to some fault.

When contacted, BKMC medical superintendent Dr Rehmanullah did not give any reason for not operating the plant. However, he said that all these things were new in the complex and making all the plants and instruments functional would take time.

Dr Rehmanullah said that a big amount of money was being paid for filling oxygen cylinders for the patients. However, the sources said that a number of patients needing oxygen were usually referred to Peshawar or Mardan.

The sources said that recently the hospital had given Rs1.4 million order for acquiring oxygen cylinders.

Similarly, the incinerator has not been made functional and the medical waste scattered in different parts of the hospital could cause infectious diseases.

The patients said that they were expecting that after declaring the complex as a teaching hospital they would not face any difficulties in treatment, but all their hopes were dashed.

However, they hoped that the government would take notice of the situation and release funds for the hospital to make all its facilities fully functional.

KILLED: Two people were killed in Razaar tehsil here on Friday.

Police said that the first incident occurred in Dagai village. Registering an FIR, Liaquat Ali told police that his brother Nural Amin was coming home on motorcycle when Taimor Khan opened fire on him in the village and killed him on the spot.

The cause of the incident was stated to be exchange of harsh words between the alleged killer and victim.

In the second incident, a man was killed in Kalu Khan village. Registering an FIR, Arshad Khan alleged that his brother Sohail Khan was killed by Shad Ali and Amraz Khan.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2019