TIMERGARA: Appreciating the swift response of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi to a viral social media video, a senior orthopaedic and spine surgeon has urged the provincial government to establish fully functional critical care facilities in Lower Dir district.
Dr Malak Shehzad, an orthopaedic and spine surgeon based in Timergara, lauded the chief minister for visiting Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Peshawar, after a video showed the father of a critically ill child appealing for help. Following the appeal, the chief minister took immediate notice, visited the hospital himself and directed the authorities to ensure proper treatment for the child.
Talking to the media, Dr Malak Shehzad demanded that Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi take urgent steps to establish Intensive Care Unit (ICU) facilities, a Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory (Cath Lab), and a Neonatal ICU (NICU) at the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Timergara.
He said that DHQ Hospital Timergara was the only major healthcare facility serving a population of over five million people from five districts, including Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Upper Chitral, Lower Chitral and Bajaur. “Despite this, the hospital lacks basic life-saving facilities such as an ICU, Cath Lab, and nursery ICU,” he maintained.
Dr Shehzad pointed out that due to the absence of these facilities, a large number of critically ill patients were referred to Peshawar for ICU beds or advanced cardiac procedures like Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) after heart attacks.
He added that patients suffering from cardiac, gynaecological, neonatal, and other serious conditions often lose their lives while being transported to Peshawar because of delays and long travel distances.
He expressed hope that the chief minister, who demonstrated compassion and prompt action in the recent viral case, would also take concrete measures to improve healthcare infrastructure in the remote districts, particularly Lower Dir, to save precious human lives.
