KHYBER: Over seven thousand residents of parts of Upper Bara in Tirah are at the mercy of an understaffed health unit which also lacked most of the health-related facilities.

Opened in Sandana locality early this year, the facility was established in three small containers, being run on solar power, having no water facility.

The health department only recently deputed a junior EPI technician and a malaria supervisor who were not qualified enough to provide any emergency medical service , also not principally authorised to prescribe any medicines to the visiting patients who come to the centre from far off localities to seek medical assistance.

Zarmat Khan, a local resident told Dawn that there was a serious shortage of free medicines at the centre as only a limited quantity of such medicines were provided there some three months back, most of which had been exhausted due to rising number of patients.

He said that due to the absence of a qualified doctor and a female nurse, they had to take most of the seriously ill patients to Dogra civil hospital in Bara or Peshawar.

“Most of the residents these days are infected with malaria, while chest and throat infection and urine related ailments are on the rise but no proper medication is available at the centre,” he added.

Muhammad Zarin, another local resident, said that in the absence of a laboratory, no tests could be conducted for any ailment while the absence of a labour room and female staff was causing serious problems to the pregnant women and their expected babies.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2025