Influential doctors begin efforts to expand own department in KTH

PESHAWAR: As the Board of Governors (BoG) of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) has proved to be powerless, a number of influential doctors are manoeuvring to expand their departments and set up additional units in the newly constructed five-storey building of the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) instead of establishing new and crucial services.

Insiders in the KTH told The News that a number of senior and influential doctors manipulated the hospital administration to expand their departments and establish additional units in the new building.

According to sources, some people in the BoG were in favour of establishing new and important services such as cardiology, gastroenterology, kidney transplant and neurosurgery departments.

But their voice was not heard properly in the BoG as some of the powerful people in the hospital have already convinced the hospital administration and members in the board to accommodate additional units of the services already available in the hospital.

“There is a race now among the senior faculty members and most of them want the BoG and KTH administration to give them space in the new building. The hospital and patients direly need new services like cardiology, gastroenterology, neurosurgery and renal transplant but unfortunately they do not have a strong voice in the high circles,” a faculty member opined.

Pleading anonymity, he said that some of the much-needed departments including neurosurgery, cardiology and gastroenterology do not have space and patients are often accommodated in other units.

He said the provincial government should take note of the suffering of patients of these neglected services and help set up Cath Lab and initiate procedures like angiography and angioplasty as well as renal transplant in the new building.

The nephrology department in KTH remains overburdened due to the growing number of patients suffering from renal problems.The hospital has presently 16 dialysis machines, including 10 donated by the Turkish government and one provided by the USAID.

According to sources, the existing RO water system for 20 machines was also donated by the Turkish government. The KTH administration had only purchased five machines and a small RO for three machines in seven years.

Insiders in the KTH administration told The News that the United Arab Emirates Red Cross is planning to donate 10 dialysis machines with two machines for dialysis of critically ill patients.It has also shown willingness to donate RO water system for 30 machines costing Rs35 million. The KTH will get all this equipment free of cost but the hospital administration seems least interested to develop these services.This correspondent made attempts to seek comments of Hospital Director Dr Nek Dad Afridi, but his cellphone remained switched off as usual.