ABBOTTABAD, Jan 5: District headquarters hospital, Abbottabad, is on the verge of closing down due to water crisis and shortage of doctors as only  24 patients are admitted in the hospital against the capacity of 120 beds.

The hospital was shifted to its original building one year back by NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah on the demand of the public and funds were allocated for its renovation and repair.

Initially, the governor sanctioned 120 beds capacity for the hospital but it was later increased by the provincial health minister to 200 beds.

Senior doctors and other staff were posted and ordered to run the hospital in full capacity with all the departments, including skin, orthopaedic, dental, medical and surgical departments.

Currently, the surgical, medical, eye and ENT wards with ICU and CCU are working but only 24 patients are admitted. In surgical ward, five men and three women are admitted, in the medical ward, four men are admitted and 12 eye and ENT patients are admitted in the hospital.

A surgeon has not been appointed in the last six months, no prominent doctor has been appointed during the period and their is also a shortage of staff in the dental department.

For the last one month, the water pump is out of order resulting in acute shortage of water in the hospital. The surgeons cannot conduct operations and sanitary condition has deteriorated due to shortage of water.

Despite the shortage of senior doctors, 400 to 500 patients are treated at the OPD and Rs3 are charged from every patient, but it has been alleged that all the funds are not deposited in the account and a smaller number of patients is recorded.

It has been reliably learn that medical superintendent of the hospital is also under transfer.