CHITRAL: The shelter house, opened last week at district headquarters hospital, has proved a source of solace and comfort for the attendants of patients admitted to the hospital.

Prior to setting up of the shelter house, the relatives and attendants of the patients from the far-flung villages had to pass the long and chilly nights of winter season in the verandahs of the hospital.

An official of the hospital told Dawn that due to the high occupancy rate of the hospital beds, the number of attendants was also high, ranging from 20 to 30 on daily basis, and there was no facility for the attendants of the patients to take rest when they were expelled from the general wards in the night.

He said that they could not stay in the nearby hotels, leaving behind their patients, as they were needed anytime to fetch medicines and in case of serious injuries or illness they could not even think of leaving the injured or patients unattended.

Prior to setting up the facility, people had to spend chilly nights in verandas

“I knew many persons, who contracted illness due to cold while attending their patients in the hospital after passing nights outside the wards. In such circumstances, the provision of shelter house (locally known as Panah Gah) by social welfare department inside the hospital was a much sought after facility,” said the official.

The spacious room near the general ward and the emergency department provides a comfortable place for the attendants with bedding facility and bonfire.

Hazrat Ghulam of Sherati Sheshi Koh valley, who was attending his younger brother in the hospital, said that it had brought a great comfort to him and it must be a great gift of Imran Khan for the people of Chitral.

“I know the intensity of the ordeal, which the attendants underwent in the hospital in winter season because I have been here many times with my relatives,” he said.

Nusrat Jabeen, the district officer of social welfare, when contacted, said that the construction and furnishing of the shelter house were carried out with the resources of the department.

She said that as there was no problem of shelter for common people in the city, so the choice of the hospital was made keeping in view the problems faced by the attendants of the patients.

She added that such a facility would be set up shortly at the women and children hospital.

FIRE: A computer centre and residential building reduced to ashes when a fire broke out here the other day.

Abdul Munim, the owner of the computer centre, told journalists that the building caught fire due to short circuit of electricity and it was intensified with a gas cylinder blast.

He alleged that although the workers of Rescue-1122 rushed to the spot timely, yet the hose pipe with the fire brigade machine did not work and extinguishing of fire could not be started for hours during which the major portion of the building was engulfed by the fire.

*Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2019*