SWABI, June 1: A local jirga on Friday constituted two committees to prevent the government from shifting the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital from Swabi city to the Shahmansoor Hospital Complex. One of these, the Rabita Awam Committee headed by Swabi Qaumi Mahaz MPA Dr Mohammad Salim, will launch a mass contact to muster public support against the government move.

The meeting held in the Swabi Adda Mosque was attended by union council nazims, political party leaders and jirga members from Salim Khan, Maneri Bala and Panjpir regions.

Committee members said that the DHQ hospital located in the city centre was easily accessible to people from various outlying areas and its shifting would create problems for patients.

They demanded that the existing staff of the DHQ hospital should not be transferred and asked the government to appoint a new staff for the complex hospital. “The government should not deprive the people of an existing health facility.”

The 74-bed hospital, which was upgraded to the DHQ level in 1988, lacked basic facilities. According to sources, some committee members proposed that the DHQ hospital be reserved for children and women, but all opposed its shifting to the complex hospital.