20 posts of specialists vacant at DHQ hospital for years
CHITRAL: As many as 20 of the 24 posts of specialists at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Lower Chitral are lying vacant for years, hampering delivery of health services to the people.
According to details gathered from the office of the medical superintendent (MS) of the hospital, there are 18 departments in the category-B hospital with 24 sanctioned posts in three tiers of grade-18 to 20, of which two posts of medical specialists and one each of ENT and child specialist are filled.
Two posts each of cardiologist and orthopaedic specialists and one of specialist each in the pathology, anesthesia, chest, gastroenterology, psychology, urology, gynaecology, nephrology, physiotherapy, skin, paeds and radiology departments have been vacant for the last five years.
The hospital is also short of general duty doctors as 43 of the sanctioned posts of 78 different cadres ranging from grade-17 to 20 have been lying vacant.
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A source in the hospital told this correspondent that since elevation of the hospital in 2005 to category-B, 24 posts of district specialists had been sanctioned but most the departments were still to see a specialist doctor working there.
He said over 10 posts of clinical technologist (grade-17) and as many of chief technicians in pathology, radiology, surgery, anesthesia and physiotherapy (grade-16) are vacant due to which the medical instruments and machinery at the hospital remained unused after their arrival 10 years ago.
“The hospital has four ventilators bought 12 years ago but these are yet to be operationalised and same is the case with the dialysis machine,” he said.