No doctors at Chhab health centre, patients travel to PindiHealth

Local residents and patients’ relatives, including Faisal Mushtaq, Ghyoor Ahmed and Zareena Bibi, have urged Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif and the provincial Health Department to fill the vacant posts immediately and to ensure that a substitute doctor is deployed whenever the serving physician goes on leave.

The crisis persists despite more than Rs30 million reportedly spent on upgrading the centre this year. Residents say several facilities remain dysfunctional. A faulty transformer has reduced the electricity supply to a single phase, so patients cannot use the X-ray facility even though the machine is available. They have demanded that the hospital administration submit a demand notice to the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) so the transformer can be repaired. A solar power system has also been installed at the centre, but its connection has not yet been provided.

Patients have also demanded the restoration of the contract of Dr Mansoor, who served at the hospital for 15 years before his contract expired and was not renewed. They say he should be retained until new appointments are made, and doctors recruited against the area quota should be transferred to the Chhab centre.

The report points to a wider pattern of staffing gaps at rural health facilities, where patients say a dispenser’s cover cannot substitute for qualified medical attention, especially when emergencies are involved. Residents say they now hope the health department’s response will move beyond temporary postings to permanent appointments for the six vacant doctor positions.