Moalims

ISLAMABAD - There is only one doctor available for over 10,000 patients in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) while hundreds of vacant posts of paramedical staff have not been filled for several years, the Senate Standing Committee on Safron was told Wednesday.
The Senate Committee on States and Frontier Region (Safron) met under the chair of Senator Hilal Rehman and was attended by all members including federal minister Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch discussing the sorry state of affairs of Fata.
The meeting was told that the health and education sectors in tribal parts of the country were fraught with challenges as patients and school children were deprived of physicians and teachers respectively.
Despite that more than 500 posts for doctors and paramedical staff have been lying vacant for years; the number of physicians available in Fata hospitals does not cater to the growing number of patients.
“It is astonishing that only one doctor is available to 10,351 patients in Fata despite that vacant posts exist for years. It is time to constitute a task force to ensure provision of health facilities to the people in far flung areas,” Senator Hilal said.
The committee expressed its anger over the report that doctors do not visit hospitals in Fata despite receiving Rs75,000 monthly salaries from the Fata Secretariat.
The committee directed the authorities to ensure that all doctors are available at health facilities across the tribal parts.
The sorry state of affair in Fata, where patients have been crying for physicians, has triggered quacks to swamp the neglected areas pretending as doctors.
“This menace has led to the outbreak of Hepatitis B and C due to intake of substandard medicines by patients that are advised by the quacks,” Senator Hidayatullah Khan revealed.
The committee was also told that the Fatal disease of cancer has become common in Fata with no cancer hospital in any of the seven tribal areas.
“Most of the patients suffering from cancer have to come a long way for treatment in hospitals of Peshawar and Islamabad,” Senator Saleh Shah said.
About the state of education in Fata, the committee was told that one teacher was available for 200 students in primary schools in several agencies while in some schools, 800 students have to rely on just four teachers.
“The Fata people have left their houses for securing lives of citizens in rest of the country. This is the treatment meted to them by government.
How can you expect a boy to become a responsible citizen when we have not provided him the basic amenities,” Senator Hilal remarked.
Referring to a survey report conducted by the local administration, there still exist schools in Fata where neither a teacher is available nor students have been enrolled. “The school buildings are utilized as Hujras (drawing rooms) by locals,” a member pointed out.
The committee recommended identification and closures of ghost schools in Fata so that the expenditures should be shifted to other schools functioning properly in the restive tribal belt.
The committee was informed that Fata contributes Rs23 billion as sales tax to national exchequer regretting that the total allocation of budget for Fata (Rs18 billion) was insufficient to reconstruct the houses damaged due to the militancy.
The members of the committee who attended the meeting included Senators Sitara Ayaz, Khanzada Khan, Ahmed Hassan, Saleh Shah, Sajjad Hussain Turi, Liaquat Taraki and Taj Afridi.
Besides, Additional Secretary and in-charge Fata Secretariat Tariq Hayat, Secretary Ministry of Safron Mir Bakhsh Jamali and officials from health and education departments also attended the meeting.


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