Daily Times

KHYBER AGENCY: Landi Kotal agency headquarters hospital staff went on strike on Monday to protest long hours of power outages at the facility.

The staff suspended all services causing inconvenience to patients and their attendants who had arrived from far-off areas. Doctors and paramedical staff of the hospital wore black armbands to a demonstration held at the premises. Later, the entrance to the Outdoor Patients Departments (OPDs) as well as the main gate were locked down.

Hospital’s Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Rafiq said power outages at the hospital had reached up to 15 hours a day. “There is no water at the premises. The vaccines worth millions of rupees have gone bad because of lack of refrigeration facility,” he said.

The medical superintendent said that the situation was so bad that attendants had to bring along fans powered with solar panels to keep their patients relieved from the scorching heat.

Meanwhile, attendants condemned the striking doctor’s community for denying treatment to patients visiting the emergency and OPD wards from far-off areas. They said there was no reason to suspend operations during hours when power was available at the hospital.

Some of the attendants said they had come to the hospital from remote areas of Loy-Shelman, Bazaar Zakha Khel and Pased Khel. They said they would now have to return again tomorrow but they did not know for sure if the doctors would resume work by then.

They requested the authorities concerned to settle the matter to relieve patients’ suffering. When contacted, the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) official said power supply to the hospital had been reduced because of delayed payments of electricity bills. “They have to clear Rs 50 million arrears. We will increase electricity supply as soon as they start clearing the arrears.”

Published in Daily Times, July 18th, 2017.