GUJAR KHAN, April 23:  The trauma centre in Gujar Khan still remains a dream for serious patients despite completion of the centre’s building and provision of requisite machinery because the senior specialists are not ready to serve patients away from the big cities, it has been learnt.

The project of establishing a well-equipped trauma centre here was approved by the former governor Punjab, general (retired) Khalid Maqbool a decade ago with the sincere ambition to provide standardised health cover to the numerous accident victims and cardiac patients who used to die while being shifted to Rawalpindi.

The building of the centre has now been constructed and state-of-the-art machinery has also been procured besides recruitments on the posts of paramedics and lower staff being done already months ago. However, the only hurdle in opening the centre is the fact that posts of orthopedic surgeon, neurologist, cardiologist and anesthetist were lying vacant as no senior specialist settled in Rawalpindi and other big cities was ready to serve the suffering humanity in this relatively small city that is only at a 40-minute drive from Rawalpindi.

According to Dr Pervez Raja, Medical Superintendent (MS) of Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) hospital, these posts had also been advertised in the newspapers but no specialist was willing to serve here and the machinery purchased at the expense of millions of rupees was still lying packed in the store rooms.

The situation grows worrisome for the residents as the serious patients find no reliable doctor in the private as well as the government hospitals throughout the tehsil.

The serious patients are frequently referred to Rawalpindi and they expire en route. The residents have urged upon the chief minister Punjab and the chief justice of Lahore high court to intervene for posting of requisite specialists to make the trauma centre operational.