KOHAT: Office-bearers of social organisations and residents here have demanded of the provincial health department to ensure functioning of the trauma centre lying closed since 2011 due to absence of surgeons and machinery to stop the practice of referring patients to Peshawar from the KDA divisional hospital.

Karwan-i-Amal, Kohat, activists staged a protest for the provision of promised category ‘A’ facilities in the KDA hospital. Its chairman and other office-bearers said that according to statistics the hospital had a load of one million patients from five districts of Kohat division per year since 2015-16.

The patients are first referred to the hospital from local healthcare facilities in Orakzai, Kurram, Karak and Hangu districts and then from the KDA hospital to Peshawar.

They questioned the absence of staff, CT scans, cardiac monitors and MRI at the trauma centre for which a ward had been inaugurated by then health minister in the last PPP-ANP coalition government in the province.

Malik Dilawar Khan of Sadaa-i-Kohat said that ambulances of the hospital were punctured and broken and the private ones lined up outside the hospital had been taking full advantage of this situation.

Other residents also complained about lack of proper facilities and services in the hospital. A young man at the hospital said that there was no ultrasound facility after 2pm and they had to take the patient to a private hospital.

VOTER LISTS: Regional election commission office, Kohat, has said that 107 display centres have been established in Kohat for corrections and deletions in the voter lists by June 19.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2022