160 health centres closed, 58 illegally occupied in KP

Minister says action to be taken against those responsible

ISLAMABAD: Despite claims of good governance by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, as many as 160 government health centres are closed in province depriving millions of people of basic healthcare facilities, official data shows.

The document also shows that 58 health facilities, including seven secondary health centres, were found illegally occupied in the province ruled by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). According to an official document prepared by KP Health Department, a copy of which is available with The News, 160 primary healthcare facilities are closed in the province either due to absence of doctors or other reasons.

It was also revealed that 50 percent essential medicines were not available at around 1,518 primary healthcare centres in KP. The data shows Hazara Division has 51 closed basic health centres. It says Bannu has 15 closed centres, while DI Khan has 23 closed hospitals. The number of closed facilities is 41 in Malakand, eight in Kohat, 15 in Peshawar and seven in Mardan. Alarmingly, healthcare facilities of a few of the urban districts were found to be closed during the monitory visits.

The document revealed that in December, 2015, 58 primary healthcare facilities were found to be illegally occupied in KP. As many as 30 out of these illegally occupied health centres were basic health units (BHUs), 13 were rural health centres and seven were secondary care centres.

The secondary health facilities which were found to be partially illegally occupied included District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Daggar, Civil Hospital Sarai Naurang, THQ Paharpur, DHQ Lakki, THQ Hospital Matta, Civil Hospital Thana Barawal and DHQ Hospital Dir.

There are 125 secondary healthcare facilities across KP including district headquarter hospitals, tehsil headquarter hospitals and civil hospitals. Tertiary care hospitals, which are teaching hospitals, are 11 in number in KP. 

The figures revealed that absence of doctors and medical staff, equipment and medicines are seriously affecting healthcare in the province. And the situation in largest cities of the province is also not any better where poor patients are unable to get quality medical care unlike the VIPs of the country who can fly abroad for treatment of even minor ailments.

A 46-year-old cab driver in Peshawar, Nusrat Khan, is among millions of affectees of flawed health system. Nusrat is running from pillar to post to save her critically ill wife as one of the largest hospitals of KP has asked him to wait for at least four months for his life-partner’s heart-surgery, a situation which could cost the patient her life.

“Our rulers are not improving the government hospitals because they would never need them for their own medical needs. They fly abroad for their medical check-up so how would they know what is going on in these hospitals?” he asked. Nusrat has tried everything from one hospital to other and from Zakat office to Baitul Mal for last three months but failed to get medical care for her ailing wife.

According to document, his wife was discharged from Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar on April 15 this year and he was asked to come back in August for her heart surgery as there was long queue of waiting patients before her. The helpless cab driver rushed to a private doctor who is asking him to pay Rs300,000 for the surgery but he is unable to arrange the same within few days.

“Is it my fault that I am not born in a rich political family? I can’t afford private hospital and no government hospital is ready to help me where shall I go,” Nusrat said while talking to The News.

He said even Baitul Mal office is located in posh area of Hayatabad. “I tried to get the help of Baitul Mal but it was so hard for me to arrange someone to fill the forms which are in English language but all my efforts are fruitless so far,” he said.

Nusrat is not the only poor man suffering from the poor state of healthcare in KP. Millions of patients are unable to get quality medical care across KP like the rest of Pakistan owing to poor health facilities.

Despite repeated attempts, provincial Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarkai did not respond to The News for his version.

However, during a recent meeting in Islamabad, the minister said the provincial government is trying to improve primary healthcare centres through proper monitoring and data collection.

“We have an year and half left in our tenure and we will try to ensure improvement of health facilities in the province,” he told the participants of the meeting held on Friday. Shahram said disciplinary action will be taken against the staff which is responsible for closure of health centres or absence of doctors.

Dr Akhtar Syed, Project Director IMU, told the News that purpose of data collection is to eventually improve health facilities in the province. He said 220 facilities will be provided electricity through solar panels to overcome shortage of electricity in these health centres.