MUZAFFARGARH: The Punjab government approved Rs200 million for clinics for the treatment of hepatitis and a burns unit at the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital, work on which has started.

This was claimed by Deputy Commissioner (DC) Saif Anwar Jappa who added that the Punjab government gave the bulk amount for DHQ hospital where he claimed 4,000 to 5,000 patients came for treatment at the outdoor patient department. He said an intensive care unit, dental clinic and water filtration plant would be established there as well as the new building rehabilitated.

DHQ hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Mehr Iqbal said a morgue will also be established and the burns unit completed before the end of the year. He said the provincial health minister had approved a special grant on the request of the DC, as the state-of-the-art Recep Tayyip Erdoan Hospital, also called Tikka Hospital, had all the facilities but it catered more to patients from outside the district, while local patients visited the DHQ hospital.

The DC had paid surprise visits to the DHQ hospital several times and warned doctors to provide free medicines to patients so they did not have to go elsewhere.

He further claimed the project would be completed next year.

Meanwhile, the hospital’s trauma centre was lying non-functional for two years. The centre’s admin officer Fiaz Ahmad Khan claimed the centre would start functioning soon.

He said there were no doctors assigned to the centre, adding that he had informed the high-ups about the missing facilities.

An official told Dawn that last month when free hepatitis check-up campaigns were conducted here, over 70 per cent people were found affected by the disease, which was alarming.

Some doctors believed this high number was due to the fact that power houses lacked treatment plants and two sugar mills were establishing their own coal power plants within their premises.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2017