MANSEHRA: Participants at a women-only open forum in Attershisha raised issues of health, education, water supply, and law and order, seeking immediate redress.
“We have to go to Mansehra and the rest of Hazara Division in case of complicated and even normal pregnancies and obstetric procedures, which causes difficulties and financial burdens,” said one of the women at the forum organized by the district administration.
The women’s forum, organised by presided over by Assistant Commissioner (Central) Sana Fatima, was held at a local Basic Health Unit, where women from Attershisha and its adjoining villages turned up.
Senior doctors of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department also attended the forum.The women complained that they had to visit health facilities in Mansehra and other parts of Hazara Division for medical check-ups and all sorts of diagnostic tests related to pregnancies due to a shortage of female doctors at the local BHU.
They also raised the issue of denied financial assistance under the Benazir Income Support Programme, the lack of women’s vocational training institutes, and water schemes that had dried up.“The local landlords have occupied the traditional passages, causing difficulties for locals, particularly women, and the district administration should retrieve them in the larger public interest,” one of the participants said.
Speaking on the occasion, Assistant Commissioner Sana Fatima said that the health issues of women would shortly be settled as the BHU Sandysar was being upgraded.“All the issues raised by you at this forum will soon be addressed, as I will take them up with the relevant departments,” she added.
