BATTAGRAM: The Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Allai, has been without a lady doctor for over five months, locals complained on Thursday.

Talking to reporters here, they said lady health visitors (LHVs) were providing treatment to the patients, which often led to complications in critical cases. They said non-availability of the lady doctor in the Type-D hospital forced the patients to avail treatment facilities in other districts.

Mr Hidayat, a local journalist, said the government should appoint a lady doctor to the hospital at the earliest so the poor patients, especially from remote areas, could get better healthcare.

Resident Mohammad Quraish said the poor were forced to take women patients either to the District Headquarters Hospital, Battagram, or health facilities in Abbottabad. “Often, they have to borrow money for treatment of the critical patients,” he added.

Mr Quraish said there was no facility of postmortem in the Allai hospital, which was done at the district headquarters hospital.

Local Hameedur Rehman said the hospital was equipped with all the basic facilities, but regrettably there was no lady doctor.

Dr Sirbuland, the medical superintendent, confirmed that the hospital had been without a lady doctor for more than five months.

He added earlier two lady doctors were posted in the hospital but they got transferred, and female patients were being looked after by LHVs.

He said lady doctors were not willing to work in the hard areas, and got them transferred soon after their posting to the hospital.

District Development Advisory Committee chairman MPA Eng Zubair Khan said he had discussed the matter with the director general and secretary health, who had assured to soon appoint a lady doctor to the Allai hospital.

He said the government was devising a policy to ensure that doctors were not transferred before completing at least two or three years at the station of their posting.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2021