KARAK: The performance of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department could be gauged from the fact that 111 of 151 sanctioned posts of doctors have been lying vacant since long in the government hospitals of the district.

There are only 40 doctors in the health centres who are providing health care services to about 500,000 population of the district, said Khattak Ittehad leaders while addressing a press conference here on Friday.

The Ittehad leaders, including Malik Noor Wali Khan, Ahmad Jan and Noor Jamal, told mediapersons that 19 basic health units of the district were being run by only eight doctors.

They said that there were one DHQ hospital, three tehsil headquarters hospitals, three civil hospitals, four rural health centres and 19 basic health units in the district, but only 40 doctors had been provided for these health centers to provide health care services to about 500,000 population of the district.

They said that the vacant sanctioned posts of specialists included five of gynaecologists, three paediatricians, two anaesthetists and one each of pathologist, blood bank officer, physician, psychiatrist, skin specialist, cardiologist and physiotherapist.

They said that for the women population of the district there were only five lady doctors and the remaining posts of lady medical officers had been vacant in the hospitals.

The KI activists said that six of 20 sanctioned posts of laboratory technicians and six of 13 posts of operation theatre technicians had also been lying vacant in government hospitals of district. Besides, only six anesthesia technicians are working against 13 sanctioned posts, while numerous posts of nurses have been vacant since long.

The Khattak Ittehad activists recalled that MNA Nasir Khan Khattak had promised the people of the district that they would manage to recruit doctors on the vacant posts by paying them from the oil and gas royalty funds, but so far no such initiative was launched.

They said that instead of establishing more hospitals in the district the government should provide enough staff, medicines and equipment to the existing health centres so as to improve the delivery of health services to the people.