KHYBER: The sudden influx of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Tirah early this year has placed a severe strain on the already overstretched health- related facilities at the Dogra Civil Hospital in Bara tehsil here.
Figures obtained from the hospital record revealed that the number of patients visiting the outpatient department had increased from the previous 600-700 to over 1,000 on a daily basis since the arrival of the new IDPs from Tirah valley.
“Staff members at the operating theatre, gynaecology ward and X-ray facility are finding it difficult to handle the growing number of needy patients,” a source in the Dogra hospital told Dawn.
He said that over 1,000-1,200 tests were conducted at the hospital everyday compared to 500 to 600 in days prior to the arrival of Tirah displaced families.
Sources said that Dogra hospital was already handling patients from far off localities of bordering Orakzai district along with nearby localities of Sangu, Shiekhan, Mashukhel and Sarband in Peshawar which are situated close to Bara.
Turab Ali, a social worker from Sipah tribe in Bara, told Dawn that a considerable number of the patients were referred to hospitals in Peshawar due to lack of modern diagnostic facilities at Dogra hospital with emergency ward, gynaecology, pediatric and surgical wards already faced with limited health care apparatus.
“The constant patient referral, particularly from Tirah, to Peshawar hospitals is an additional financial burden over the impoverished families,” he said.
He said that a majority of the Tirah patients were finding it difficult to acquire a computerised OPD slip due to their lack of required knowledge about operating such machines.
Medical superintendent of the Dogra hospital Dr Alamgir told Dawn that his entire medical team was working tirelessly to provide best possible facilities to the growing number of patients despite limited resources and shortage of paramedics.
“The hospital staff is now feeling overstretched due to the additional burden of Tirah patients while our existing resources too are under severe stress with no immediate assistance in sight from the concerned official quarters,” he said.
The MS, however, said that the entire team of doctors and paramedics were trying their best to facilitate all the patients who were eager to get priority treatment despite limited resources at the hospital.
He said that at present the Type-D Dogra hospital was catering to health related demands and requirements of nearly 600,000 people of both Bara and Tirah with an additional number of patients from Orakzai and nearby Peshawar villages.
Dr Alamgir said that the only remedy lies in the prompt up gradation of Dogra hospital to Type-C which will enable it to cope with the growing demand of better health facilities.
“We are now eagerly looking to the provincial government, especially Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, who is also a resident of Bara to start work on the upgradation of the Dogra hospital,” he said.
Officials at the district health office said that out of the total 64 health units in the remote localities, the closure of at least seven had placed additional burden on the Dogra hospital, while another three were partially operational and that, too, with very limited health facilities.
Javed Khan Afridi, a former chairman of a village council in Bara, said the immediate reactivation of all dormant centres along with posting of additional doctors and nurses at Dogra hospital could alleviate the health-related sufferings of both Bara and Tirah residents.
MPA from Bara Abdul Ghani, who is the chairman of Khyber district Development Advisory Committee, insisted that a formal notification about the upgradation of Dogra hospital had been issued after the completion of its feasibility studies and PC-1.
Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2026