UPPER DIR, Feb 25: The three-storey district headquarters hospital here lacks health facilities and specialist doctors, and patients have been facing severe difficulties in getting proper treatment.

“There are 57 sanctioned posts of doctors, of which 41 have been lying vacant since long, seriously affecting the work of the hospital,” said the DHQ hospital's medical superintendent Dr Ghani Rahman while talking to this correspondent.

The residents criticised the elected representatives of the region for ignoring their welfare and said that the nominal staff at the hospital could not cater to the needs of the district having over 700,000 population. They came down hard on the incumbent Awami National Party-led government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for its failure to improve condition of the hospital despite repeated promises by Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti.

Dr Rahman said that only one doctor was working in grade-18 out of 19 such sanctioned posts. Also, 10 posts of grade-17 doctors, he added, were also vacant.

“In fact, the hospital is being run by six medical officers, four specialist doctors and two lady doctors,” the MS said. He said that the important posts such as that of gynaecologist, cardiologist and orthopaedic specialist had been lying vacant for years.

He said that in case of minor complications the patients were forced to go to hospitals in Peshawar and other cities for better treatment.

On February 16, two victims of a bomb blast with fractured bones were flown to Peshawar because the hospital did have an orthopaedic specialist. Similarly, women with gynae complications are also forced to proceed to other cities. People confront problems on daily basis due to a continuous shortage of doctors.

Dr Laiq Zada, former MS of the DHQ hospital, suggested that the provincial assembly should make legislation for making it mandatory for trainee medical officers (TMOs) in the teaching hospitals of the province to perform duty in districts for at least four months as part of their training.

“This would end the shortage of doctors in remote districts to a great extent,” he said. The people visiting the hospital also criticised MNA from Upper Dir, Najmuddin Khan, who also remained a federal minister in the current PPP government, for failing to fill the large number of vacant posts of doctors.

“Those who were criticising the MMA government for the bad condition of the DHQ hospital are now acting as mere spectators despite being in the government,” said Ihsanullah, a resident of Dir.

LOADSHEDDING: Jamaat-i-Islami, Upper Dir, has threatened to hold complete wheel-jam and shutter down strike against the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) if it failed to stop the prolonged power loadshedding in the district.

In a meeting, Upper Dir JI chief Sahibzada Fasihullah, secretary general Mir Makhzanuddin and Behram Khan said that the excessive loadshedding in the district had been causing severe problems to the domestic consumers. They said that the unscheduled loadshedding coupled with low voltage had destroyed businesses and small industry of the district.