CHITRAL: The District Headquarters Hospital, Chitral, has been functioning without a surgeon for one and a half years forcing patients requiring surgical procedure to travel to Peshawar.

The hospital has three sanctioned posts of surgeons, including two of BPS-18 and one of BPS-19.

The residents criticised the government over failure to cater for the needs of a population of around 0.5 million.Former village nazim of Jughoor Sajjad Ahmad Khan said as the DHQ hospital didn’t have surgeon, the people had to take patients to Peshawar and other cities for surgery.

He said many residents requiring surgical procedure were too poor to afford travel costs, so they stayed put to their misery.

The former nazim said the hospital was in deplorable condition and was short of staff, especially medical specialists.

“Out of 40 sanctioned posts of specialists, only five are occupied,” he said.

MOU SIGNED: The University of Chitral and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation, technical and professional support, and knowledge management for the people’s development, especially youth’s.

The function was attended by University of Chitral project director Prof Badshah Munir Bukhari and PPAF chief executive officer Qazi Azmat Isa.Under the initiative, training programmes will be arranged on social communication, planning and management, information and computer technology, community organisation, environmental communication, rural development and olive crop, health and nutrition, sustainable tourism and cultural heritage.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2020