Sounds of echoes: Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital non-functional since 2014

Load-shedding, low electricity voltage cited as main reasons

MINGORA:

Although staff, medicines and equipment is present at Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital, the facility has not yet been made operational. This is despite the fact the hospital was opened for patients in December 2014 after it was founded by the prime minister on November 12, 2012, as a present to the residents of Swat and Malakand Division from the Punjab Hospital Trust.

The medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Ghulam Rehmani, said load-shedding and low electricity voltage were the main reasons for this status.

He told The Express Tribune the hospital will start working once the electricity issue is resolved, adding the provincial government appointed doctors wherever vacancies existed.

Rehmani also said equipment worth millions of rupees has been damaged due to malfunctioning caused by erratic voltage and action must be taken by the government. He added facilities like nephrology, radiology, lithotripsy and an operation theatre were all available at the hospital, but to no one’s advantage.

Manglor councillor Sarwar Khan also voiced his concern, saying even though the gift of the Punjab Trust Hospital is appreciated; the provincial government needs to provide basic facilities in terms of electricity and water supply.

Manglor UC Youth Councillor Falak Naz demanded the government provide more facilities in underdeveloped areas and help patients get treatment closer to home rather having to go to Islamabad or Peshawar.

The backdrop

After Operation Rah-e-Rast against the Taliban, Swat was termed a war-struck zone and many families from the district migrated to other districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Even after families returned, Swat was devastated, the administration was disturbed, schools were destroyed, roads were unpaved and hospitals were empty.

The Punjab Hospital Trust then gifted a modern kidney hospital to the residents of Swat and Malakand Division.

Constructed on a 36 kanal plot in Mangoor, 10 kilometres from Mingora, the Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital was constructed at a cost of Rs430.9 million. It comprised 110 beds with modern equipment and medicines. A total of 650 patients were registered at the hospital and about 20-25 outpatient departments exist.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2016.