SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: The District Headquarters Hospital in Wana, Lower South Waziristan, is facing a shortage of specialist doctors, medical officers, nurses and technical staff, hospital sources said on Monday.

They said that the hospital lacked medical equipment, medicines and other facilities despite receiving an annual allocation of around Rs470 million.

Sources said the shortages had affected the hospital’s capacity to provide treatment to patients, many of whom had to purchase medicines from private pharmacies or travel to Dera Ismail Khan for specialised care.

They said that the hospital lacked specialists in several departments, including anaesthesia, pathology, radiology, ENT, urology and nephrology.

The hospital administration recently claimed that 18 specialist doctors and 25 medical officers were working at the facility.

However, information available about the hospital indicated that 13 specialist doctors and 16 medical officers were currently performing duties there.

Sources said that interns were working in some departments to cope with the staff shortage, with some not being paid salaries regularly.

They claimed that a Category-B hospital was required to have around 48 medical officers but the health facility in Wana was functioning with the staff required for a Category-D hospital, while benefits were reportedly being provided according to its Category-B status.

Sources said the shortage of staff was particularly evident in the emergency department, where only two medical officers were generally available at a time, while around six medical officers in total shared emergency duties.

They added that at times, only two nursing staff members were available.

Sources said the emergency department received patients suffering from traffic accidents, firearm injuries, burns, dog bites, cardiac problems and other serious conditions.When contacted, medical superintendent of the hospital Dr Jan Mohammad Shinwari said efforts were under way to provide patients with better medical facilities on the premises.

He said efforts were being made to overcome the shortage of doctors at the earliest and that the administration was in contact with authorities to ensure the availability of medical staff required in different departments.

Dr Shinwari said indoor patients were being provided with medicines and that other administrative and medical issues were being addressed.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2026