PESHAWAR: The health department in collaboration with International Committee of Red Cross is updating facilities at Pak-Afghan Dosti Hospital to further streamline entry of Afghan patients for tertiary care treatment to Peshawar via Torkham border.

“ICRC has started renovation work and is providing X-rays and ECG machines in addition to upgrading pharmacy, human resources and laboratory facilities at the hospital to expedite screening of patients before sending them to Pakistani hospitals,” Dr Hamaad Gul Mohmand, head of Pak-Afghan Dosti Hospital, told Dawn.

He said that they referred 120 patients to hospitals from the border on average per day. “About 75 per cent patients are coming to Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Peshawar, and Lahore for surgeries and chemotherapy and other services because Afghanistan doesn’t have facilities for cancer patients,” he said.

Dr Hamaad said that other patients also got permission after full security and medical checkups to visit the local hospitals for problems related to heart, liver, kidney, stroke, orthopedics, diabetes, eye, psychiatry, gynea, psychiatry and acute emergency.

ICRC has started renovation and improvement of the health facility at Torkham

“Last month, a total of 1941 patients came to Pakistan including 1,137 cancer patients. We also receive people suffering from injuries in bomb blasts, road accidents and gunshots. They are referred by Jalalabad Hospital after giving them first-aid,” he said.

The hospital, housed in a rented PTDC Hotel, was established on the directives of former prime minister Imran Khan in 2019. It is managed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department to facilitate the Afghan nationals for getting tertiary care services in local hospitals.

Dr Hamaad said that patients were referred from different provinces of Afghanistan. They were first screened in Jalalabad and then at an office established by Afghan government near the border prior to visiting Dosti hospital, he added.

Some patients are refused entry and reverted when they present fake documents or involved in crossing border illegally as doctors investigate them, check their documents and carry out clinical examination.

“Most of the genuine patients have sufficient medical record and their diseases are confirmed on examination. Last month, we sent back 424 patients as their records were not satisfactory,” he said.

Dr Hamaad said there was strict security and patients were sent to FIA checkpost for biometric verification and further investigation. He said that their travel documents were also checked after they got clearance from the doctor.

FIA has the authority to revert those, who have some ambiguity. The record of patients is also shared with local head Frontier Corps before giving them go-ahead for Peshawar through ambulance from hospital.

“One attendant is allowed per patient. The patients don’t need visa but original Tazkira or passport is mandatory along with genuine medical record and disease,” he said.

Dr Hammad said that six doctors and seven paramedics worked at the hospitals and trained nurses from CMH examined patients. “ICRC’s collaboration will further improve services as we are also receiving critically-ill and wounded people, requiring management before sending them to Peshawar for proper care,” he added.

He said that facilities at the two-bed hospital would be improved with support of ICRC. “As per protocol, we allow the patients, who appointments are near and then their exits are recorded after they undergo treatment to ensure that they don’t overstay,” he added.

Dr Hamaad said that their staff also contacted the local hospitals about the appointments of patients. The patients undergo rigorous screening on both sides of the border for security reasons.

The programme was based totally on humanitarian basis because Afghanistan lacked tertiary level hospitals due to decades of violence. Patients come to Pakistan from Jalalabad, Kabul, Kandahar, Khost, Laghman and other provinces of Afghanistan. Most patients come to Peshawar and few to other cities for those treatments, which are not available back home.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2023