MANSEHRA: The members of district, tehsil, village and neighbourhood councils on Thursday warned they would block the Oghi-Mansehra Road for indefinite period if the Oghi civil hospital destroyed in the 2005 earthquake was not rebuilt before being upgraded as the tehsil headquarters hospital.

“The people of Oghi have no access to health services since the destruction of the civil hospital in the 2005 earthquake. Though doctors and other staff members are there, the tent hospital remains closed from around 2am to the next morning to the misery of patients,” Oghi district councillor Haji Faridoon told reporters in his area.

Tehsil council member Jamal Alvi, nazim of Oghi neighbourhood council Gul Smud, youth councillor and health committee member Syed Qadir Shah, general councillors Qasim Khan, Saqib Khan and Zulfiqar Qureshi were also present on the occasion.

Local councillors threaten to block major road

Mr. Faridoon said both federal and provincial governments were not sincere about the reconstruction of the civil hospital and therefore, the people of the entire tehsil were in distress.

He said Mohammad Safdar, the son-in-law of the prime minster, was elected MNA from the local NA-21 constituency in the 2013 general elections but he had failed to act against the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority over failure to reconstruct the hospital during the last one decade. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Alvi said it was irony that the only hospital in Oghi had been open to visitors from 9am to 2pm daily only.

“Doctors and other staff members have regularly been receiving salaries but they do duty for five hours a day only that is ironic and makes mockery of the heath system,” he said. The councillor said critical patients of many areas died due to the early closure of the hospital.

“The government should take notice of the matter and ensure corrective measures and action against those responsible for the people’s misery,” he said. He said doctors checked patients at private clinics after charging high fee after the closure of the hospital.

Councillor Syed Qadir Shah said the government had approved Rs250 million for the reconstruction of the hospital long ago but the reconstruction had yet to begin.

“The government has sanctioned Rs250 million for the hospital but the reconstruction has been facing delays for the last many years and thus, depriving the people of the entire tehsil of healthcare,” he said.

Mr. Shah said the posts of women doctors and lady health visitors had been lying vacant for years but the government didn’t bother to fill them. The representatives of local bodies warned they would block the Oghi-Mansehra Road for indefinite period if the hospital was not rebuilt immediately before being given the status of a tehsil headquarters hospital.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2016