Haripur trauma centre — a picture of neglect
The Workers Welfare Fund establishes 60-bed Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Burns and Trauma Center at a cost of Rs711 million. PHOTO: FILE
The only trauma centre in Haripur has been facing serious administrative and medical mismanagement issues.
Due to the poor state of affairs, locals call it a “drama centre”. Most of the patients visiting the centre are being referred to other hospitals instead of providing them with treatment and medication.
On Sunday, sewage entered the trauma centre and started accumulating in the courtyard outside the female ward, causing problems for the patients. The pungent smell spread in the whole centre due to the accumulation of sewage in the courtyard. Patients said that the smell has become a nightmare for them.
Sources said that alleged corruption had been committed during the construction of the building and a poor sewerage system has been laid for the centre.
Former MPA and provincial minister, Qazi Mohammad Asad, asked the agencies concerned to investigate the alleged corruption committed in the construction of the sensitive project.
Former Naib Nazim and leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, Imran Alizai said that the trauma centre had been constructed at a cost of billions of rupees and it was claimed that with the activation of the centre, not a single patient would be referred to other hospitals but the situation has not improved and patients with minor ailment were being referred by trauma centre management to Rawalpindi, Islamabad or Abbottabad.
He said that poor material has been used in the construction of the trauma centre and the sewerage system has also been poorly constructed due to which the sewage gets accumulated in the centre courtyard during the rainfall. He went on to say that the roofs of the centre were also in a bad shape.
He said that medicines were not being provided to the patients at the centre and there was no surgeon at the centre for patients' treatment.
He said that the hospital has completely failed to provide medical facilities to the citizens. He said that a motorcycle of a citizen was stolen from the premises of the centre, whose FIR has been lodged. He said that the government should launch a high-level investigation into the alleged corruption in the centre's building construction.
Meanwhile, the hospital medical superintendent said that the sewerage system issue at the hospital will be resolved at the earliest.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 25th, 2022.