MANSEHRA: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Hazara division women wing general secretary Ambreen Swati has demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to establish a dialysis unit at the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital, Mansehra, to provide treatment services to kidney patients f rom upper parts of the division.

`It is unfortunate that DHQ hospitals in Mansehra, Torghar, Kohistan and Battagram are without dialysis f acility and the patients suffer great agony and financial problems in reaching the Abbottabad hospital for dialysis twice a week, she told media persons here on Sunday.

Ms Swati said that the KP government should ensure that hospitals in remote parts of the province were also equipped with proper treatment f acilities.

`Over 70 patients from Mansehra city alone visit the Ayub Medical Complex Hospital in Abbottabad for dialysis twice a week which is an uphill task not only for the patients, but also for their attendants,` she said.

`Most of the patients prefer to pay Rs7,000 per dialysis at private hospitals as they couldn`t reach on sched-uled dates at the Ayub medical complex because of traffic jam on the Karakoram Highway,` she said.

The councillor said that the post of nephrologist at the Ayub medical complex hospital was lying vacant since long. She said that a delegation of his party was expected to meet Chief Minister Pervez Khattak soon for the approval of nephrology unit at the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital inMansehra.

TRADERS PRAISED: Tehsil nazim, Balakot, Rustam Khan has said that the business community contributed much to the welfare of quake-affected families despite suffering financial losses in 2005.

He told a gathering of traders on Sunday that his government was trying to serve the people within the available financial resources.

`We have launched development schemes to address all your problems,` he claimed. He said that he had taken up the issue of New Balakot housing project with the provincial government and hoped that the government would settle the issue in accordance with the wishes of local people. Correspondent