Health woes: Bisham hospital a ‘blot’ on health care

Hospital without electricity supply, basic medical equipment and specialists.

SHANGLA:

The state of the Bisham Tehsil Headquarter (THQ) Hospital in Shangla District is dismal.

The hospital, which serves half of Shangla’s 500,000population, lacks electricity supply, drinking water facility and basic medical equipment. The hospital does not have specialist doctors and its only ambulance either remain out of order or out of fuel.

Moreover, there are is only one female doctor deputed here to treat a considerably large number of female patients from the conservative local communities.

With the condition of the second THQ in Shangla’s Alpuri Tehsil not much different, residents have to visit hospitals in either Abbottabad or Saidu Sharif after bearing the high transport costs and spending hours in transit for the most basic of medical treatments. They have demanded of the health department to ensure at the two hospitals all the facilities that a THQ hospital should have, which include appointment of at least one surgeon, medical specialist, ENT specialist and orthopaedic specialist.

Ziaur Rehman, a resident of Bisham said people have to go to hospitals in other neighbouring areas for basic medical treatments while a number of serious patients die during the journey. He said a number of pregnant women have died while making their journey to hospitals elsewhere, because the only female doctor deputed at the THQ hospital in Bisham has been absent for the past two years.



“These are not hospitals, but are near-empty buildings that are a stain on health care and serve only to occupy our valuable land,” said an irate Rehman.

Residents also complain that in addition to the lack of staff, those deputed at the two hospitals’ dispensary and casualty ward do not perform their duties properly.

Dr Mansoor, who is deputed at the THQ hospital in Bisham, said that the doctors are also inconvenienced due to the lack of medical facilities here. “At times we need to admit a patient at the hospital but we cannot because there isn’t even any clean water available here,” he said.

The hospitals are listed as THQs only on paper as all specialist posts are lying vacant. “If basic facilities are not provided at the hospitals and specialist doctors are not hired, the people will continue to suffer,” he added.

When contacted, Member Provincial Assembly Rashad Khan said he is aware of the hospitals’ issues and he discussed these in the last budget session of the provincial assembly. “To fill vacant posts, ad hoc positions were sanctioned in the hospitals. But while the tenure of the people appointed has ended, I will ask the provincial government to give them extensions for smooth functioning of the hospitals,” said Khan. He promised that the issues will be resolved soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2013.