BAJAUR: Residents of Lowi Mamund tehsil on Monday blocked the Inayat Kallay-Laghari Road to protest the shortage of doctors and paramedics at the region’s Category-D Hospital.
The road was blocked in front of the hospital in Larkholozo.
The protesters said the hospital was established 15 years ago, butitfailed to provide healthcare to people.
‘This hospital is supposed to be one of the largest publichealthfacilitiesin the district to provide 24/7 healthcare to residents of both Lowi Mamund and War Mamund tehsils, whose combined population is about 600,000. But unfortunately, even 15 years after its establishment, the facility has yet to serve its purpose,’ they alleged.
They said that as per the hospital’s mandate, doctors for all basic and necessary departments were to be posted there, along with adequate medicines and other facilities. ‘But even the hospital’s emergency department is without doctors,’ they regretted.
The protesters said patients were forced to travel to the far-off District Headquarters Hospital in Khar to seek treatment.
They demanded that the required doctors and equipment be provided to the hospital immediately.
The protesters dispersed after a team of health officials promised to meet their demands.
CROP DESTROYED: Unknown miscreants destroyed the tomato crop of two farmers in the Ghakhi area of Lowi Mamund tehsil on Sunday night.
Residents said on Monday that vegetables belonging to Sher Ali and Islam Gul, cultivated on a vast piece of land, were cut at the roots by unidentified people.
Terming the act inhuman and shameful, they said both farmers had no personal dispute with anyone in the area.
The residents demanded action against those involved, and that the affected farmers be compensatedfor the losses.