PESHAWAR: A tehsil headquarters hospital in Buner, which handled all health-related emergencies during August’s flash floods, is set to launch a telemedicine programme to provide online consultation and care to the local children.

The 42-bed public hospital hit the headlines when it handled around 350 bodies and over 1,000 injured in the flood at the end of August when several charity organisations thronged the hilly district to extend help to the calamity-hit people.

Medical superintendent Dr Syed Imtiaz Ali Shah told Dawn that the hospital was going to start a telemedicine programme for the local children after the installation of all required devices.

“Doctors based in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar will examine patients live via camera and recommend investigations and treatment,” he said. The MS said the initiative was supported by the Child Life Foundation, which had signed a memorandum of understanding with the health department.

MS says doctors in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar will examine patients via camera

He said that a health worker would be available from 2pm to 8pm to share the patients’ vital signs, including body temperature, weight and pulse rate, via camera and the paediatricians would advise medicines with proper dosages that would save the people from transporting their patients to Swat, Mardan and Peshawar.

Dr Shah said with the hospital receiving around 300 children in OPD every day, those with complications would get examined under the telemedicine programme.

“We have a gynaecologist, a surgeon, a physician, an ophthalmologist, a cardiologist, an ENT specialist and a dermatologist but they work as medical officers. We are in contact with authorities to upgrade this Category D hospital to the Category C hospital and once that happens, those officers will be promoted to BPS-18 as district specialists,” he said.

The MS said the hospital had 32 doctors, 28 paramedics and nurses with 16 support staff members but a nursery ward for newborns was direly needed.

He said his hospital treated 19,254 patients last and that the telemedicine programme would enhance the inflow of patients.

“Staff training in telemedicine is in progress,” he said.

Officials in the health department told Dawn that telemedicine was becoming common due to specialised healthcare through information technology to patients in far-flung areas.

They said patients just sat in front of cameras or laptops with cameras before they’re seen by specialists on large LCD screens to prescribe medicines.

The officials said they hoped that the initiative would benefit patients in the form of efficient, low-cost and reliable services.

They said the telemedicine programme enabled the residents to receive specialised services in the district instead of spending huge sums of money for travelling to other cities for the care.

“We will extend services in general medicines, obstetrics, gynaecology, ear, nose and throat, ophthalmology, psychiatry, dermatology, radiology, cardiology and general surgery to the visitors,” a health official said.

He said the move was meant to improve basic health service being provided to the people in far-flung areas through modern telecommunication infrastructure.

The officials said the new technology had enabled doctors, sitting away from patients, to hear chest beats through stethoscopes and examine ultrasound examination reports.

They said the organisation had pledged more dedicated and advanced medical examination equipment, supported by web-based telemedicine software.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2025