TIMERGARA: The elders of Chakdara on Tuesday complained that transfer of two out of three technicians operating the dialysis unit at the tehsil headquarters hospital a month ago had stressed the patients out.

They claimed that 20 patients of renal failure had died and 150 were in critical condition since the technicians were transferred a month ago.

Speaking at a news conference at Chakdara, ANP leader Wasil Khan, president Anjuman-i-Tajaran, Chakdara, Khwaja Faizul Ghafoor and others said the two technicians had been transferred on the recommendations of the PTI leadership. They said transfer of the technicians had badly affected the functioning of the dialysis unit.

They pointed out that the dialysis unit catered to the patients from both the Lower and Upper Dir districts. They said the three technicians, including a woman, had been trained at the Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital in Swat.

The area elders threatened to bring the patients and their relatives onto the roads if the health department failed to post trained technicians at the hospital.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2019