PESHAWAR: An inquiry committee of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has revealed that 38 health centres have been established in private hujra (male guesthouses) in North Waziristan tribal district, with 20 per cent of employees drawing salary without performing duties.

A report, prepared by senior officials of the probe panel, said out of a total of 2,818 employees of those centres, 538 couldn’t be verified.

The committee also reported a severe shortage of essential medicines, with just three per cent available in June 2024, no next month and four per cent in August.

Sources in the health department said the National Accountability Bureau had informed the health department early last year that healthcare infrastructure in North Waziristan was in a “bad condition,” with many health facilities being nonfunctional and employees not performing their duties to the misery of patients.

Probe panel recommends immediate action

The sources said the Peshawar High Court had already directed the department to probe the issue and take measures to improve patient care in the region.

The inquiry committee also noted that North Waziristan had 336 health centres, more than in larger districts like Peshawar, Kohat and Nowshera, but they didn’t benefit residents, by and large.

It also said most of those facilities were put up on political grounds, with their establishment not justifiable under the law.

The panel also said most hospitals in the district had been built without feasibility studies as required under the standard procedure and that they didn’t cater for local populations as most employees lived away from their districts with their bosses not holding them accountable.

It noted that there was an “extreme scarcity” of basic medical equipment and instruments, such as stethoscopes, thermometers, blood pressure sets and nebulisers at health centres in North Waziristan, with only 28 of 315 facilities with 70pc instruments and equipment.

The committee said that 38 hospitals were established on the land donated by residents but they’re used as hujras (male guest houses) by landowners where fake OPD slips were prepared to create a false impression about patient arrivals and treatment.

It called for immediate action to ensure people’s access to healthcare in their native areas.

In the four-page report submitted to the health department, the inquiry panel said that 41 health facilities in the tribal district were “in ruins” so immediate repair or re-construction should be carried.

It recommended the immediate abolition of health centres established on political groups or for “unjustifiable reasons” and withholding of payments to the employees who are not performing their duties but receiving salary while sitting away from the district.

The committee also called for disciplinary action against such staff members.

It also proposed the merger of all health facilities located in the radius of five kilometres to “reduce administrative expenditure and improve services for the residents.”

It also said that feasibility studies should be carried out to build new hospitals, while recruitments should be made through the district administration for the sake of transparency.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2025