PESHAWAR, May 11: The lack of essential equipment and shortage of doctors and paramedics in the government-run health facilities in Karak district take its toll on the patients and the general public alike as the residents mostly prefer to shift their patients to major hospitals in Peshawar.

The 200-bed District Headquarters Hospital, which functions in two separate buildings, is badly hit by the shortage of staff and equipment required to run the health facility located close to the Indus Highway, some six kilometres in the east of Karak town.

The DHQ hospital’s new block is the only hospital in the southern districts of the NWFP which has to cater to the health needs of the locals, besides those who meet any mishap on the Indus Highway right from Dera Ismail Khan to Karak.

The other clinics located close to the main road in five districts, from Dera Ismail Khan in the south to Kohat in the north, are either rural health centres (RHCs) or basic health units (BHUs), but they also present a pathetic look as there are no doctors or other medical facilities.

The patients and Karak DHQ hospital’s staff are always found in a fix with regard to the doctors’ and nurses’ duty place. Most of the staff members do not know whether they have to perform duty in the old hospital building in the Karak town, or the new three- storey building in the Karak township scheme, staff members and patients told this correspondent during a recent visit to the hospital’s new block.

Most of the wards and sections in the new block, except the OPD and emergency, are nonoperational and lying closed since the hospital’s opening in March 2001. The hospital was formally taken over by the provincial health departments with a gap of over 10 months of its opening.

The construction of the new hospital building has multiplied the miseries of the patients, as, in most cases, they are confused where they would get hold of the concerned doctor — in the new hospital or the old one, staff members said. Also, the health delivery system is badly affected by the absence of a shuttle between the two hospital buildings, the sources said.

There are only four ambulances, besides five ambulances donated to the other health outlets, in the whole of the district.

The non-availability of drinking water is also a big problem as the DHQ hospital’s both blocks at times remain without water for days at a stretch, but the concerned quarters have failed to take any action to solve this pestering problem.

The Tehsil Headquarters Hospitals in Takht-i-Nasrati and Banda Daud Shah are also without essential equipment and staff.

The main problem in the two THQ hospitals is the shortage of doctors and paramedical staff, besides drinking water.