Stressing action: Govt asked to include DHQ hospital in Saidu group

MINGORA:

The provincial government has been urged to take an initiative to declare District Headquarters Hospital Swat as part of the central wing of Saidu Group of Teaching Hospitals.

According to a press release issued on Friday, the demand was made by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa District Specialist Association during a general body meeting convened to discuss the likelihood of the hospital becoming non-functional.



During the moot, the association’s president Dr Muhammad Khalid said it was the right time to declare the facility as part of the central wing. “Construction work at the 500-bed facility has been recently completed so the time is ripe for this move,” read the statement.

Khalid added the government should restore district consultant posts in the best interests of the public. “Posts of eight district consultants which have been converted to teaching posts must be restored on an emergency basis,” the statement added.

The association’s president said efforts were being made to improve operations at the hospital.

“Those who don’t want DHQ Hospital to flourish will now be disappointed,” read the statement. “No one will be allowed even to think of it as a hospital which is non-functional. Statistics reveal 90% of patients who visit the facility are being provided medical treatment.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2015.