MIRAMSHAH: The district headquarters (DHQ) hospital in Miramshah has turned into a symbol of mismanagement, triggering widespread public anger in North Waziristan, where residents say negligence and poor administration have pushed the only major public healthcare facility in the district to the brink of collapse.

The DHQ hospital, which caters to the entire population of North Waziristan, is facing an acute shortage of basic medical facilities, placing patients’ lives at serious risk.

According to hospital sources, doctors frequently remain absent despite fixed OPD timings, while several key medical officers have been on long leave. As a result, several patients are forced to return home daily without receiving any treatment.

Residents complain that if doctors do not consider it necessary to attend duty, the hospital’s existence is reduced to nothing more than a building. Sources further revealed that the provision of free medicines has almost been completely suspended for the past two years.

The store in-charge said medicines are not being supplied by the government, forcing poor patients to purchase expensive drugs from private pharmacies. The situation in the emergency ward is equally alarming. An attendant of a female patient told Dawn that no medicines were provided by the hospital and all required drugs had to be bought from outside.

Authorities’ indifference causing irreparable loss to public health

Patients admitted to wards and their attendants allege that doctors do not conduct timely rounds, while the nursing staff often delays administering injections and medicines. “Patients remain in severe pain for hours, but there is no one to attend to them,” said one attendant.

Locals say such substandard healthcare facilities in a sensitive and underdeveloped region like North Waziristan amount to playing with human lives. Attempts to obtain the hospital administration’s version were unsuccessful as no official was available at the office.

Meanwhile, the district administration of North Waziristan stated that it had conducted multiple surprise inspections and raids to address the absence of doctors and staff at DHQ Hospital Miramshah.

Officials said that during each visit, absentee staff was identified and attendance reports were compiled and formally forwarded to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department and other relevant authorities. However, despite these measures, the staff concerned has made little effort to improve in their conduct.

The district administration added that it has repeatedly informed the health department and higher authorities about the hospital’s issues, but no effective or permanent action has yet been taken against those responsible for negligence.

Citizens have appealed to the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the corps commander Peshawar, the GOC 7 Division North Waziristan, and the deputy commissioner of North Waziristan to take immediate notice of the situation.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2026