DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Public representatives and local residents have urged Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Khan Afridi to immediately order activation of dialysis machines lying unused at the District Headquarters Hospital Tank. They have also called upon the chief secretary, provincial health minister and the director general health to intervene without delay.

According to community members, dozens of kidney patients from Tank, Jandola and Upper South Waziristan continue to face severe difficulties due to the absence of functional dialysis facilities in the region.

Former Senator Waqar Ahmad Khan had donated two dialysis machines to DHQ Hospital Tank in 2018 to support underprivileged kidney patients. Despite the passage of seven years, the machines remain non-operational.

A delegation that recently met the MS Israrul Haq was informed that the hospital urgently required an independent electricity line from the grid station to run the dialysis unit. The MS added that the facility also needed a qualified urologist and dialysis technician to properly operate the machines and provide services to patients.

He further stated that DHQ Tank required additional dialysis machines to meet the growing needs of the population.

The delegation appealed to the chief minister, chief secretary Shahab Ali Shah, provincial health minister and senior health officials to ensure that the two dialysis machines already present in the hospital are made functional on an emergency basis.

They also requested for the provision of eight more dialysis machines and the required medical staff to provide poor kidney patients access to life-saving treatment within the district.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2025