HARIPUR, May 3: Funds shortage and delay in appointment of needed staff has been affecting the healthcare service delivery at the district headquarters hospital here, forcing the patients to visit private clinics and pay heavy fee to consultants.

The 210-bed DHQ hospital that was commissioned in 2008 had since then been waiting to be equipped with the healthcare facilities and provided staff and funds for medicines a type ‘B’ hospital deserved.

Currently, the DHQ hospital has two wings– the main hospital in the new building and the other in the old building, which is commonly known as Women and Children Hospital. For these two facilities there are only 17 medical officers and 49 nurses; two each surgical, medical and eye specialists and gynecologists; and one each child specialist, ENT specialist and cardiologist for the population of about a million people.

The daily visitors at the OPD of the main building are 1,200-1,300 and that of W&C hospital about 200, official sources told this correspondent.

“In order to make it fully operational this hospital needs more staff, including male and female medical officers, nurses and four head nurses; one each nursing superintendent, nephrologist, psychologist, radiologist and pathologist; and about 200 other employees, including technical staff and class IV workers,” said an official source on the condition of anonymity.

He said that the staff shortage at the DHQ hospital was mainly due to the delay in official notification of W&C hospital as a separate entity and appointment of separate staff for it.

“Yes, we have only one DHQ hospital with a total budget of Rs7 million, as there is no official notification for declaring the old building of DHQ as Women and Children Hospital,” said Dr Mohammad Nawaz, the medical superintendent of the DHQ hospital.

He said the Rs7 million budget was mere peanuts to cater to the health needs of one million population of Haripur district.

Mr Nawaz said that they needed a separate budget of Rs6 million for the W&C hospital besides new staff including four gynecologists, four pediatricians, 10 women medical officers and 30 paramedics.

He said that to ensure improved healthcare services at the DHQ hospital, which had been declared as a teaching hospital, a separate amount of Rs10 million would be needed for buying medicines.

Answering a question about delay in appointment of new staff, he said that the statement of new expenses sent to provincial government on January 1, 2011 had been approved and was now lying with the finance department for approval.

He said that with the approval of new funds the health delivery services at the DHQ hospital would be considerably improved.