PESHAWAR - Due to lack of dialysis machines in the Dis­trict Headquarters Hospital Daggar Buner, kidney patients are suffering while visiting the Swat Kidney Center where a huge rush of patients is witnessed these days while the neighbouring districts of Torghar and Shangla are far better in terms of facilities where these machines are available.

There are a large number of kidney pa­tients who could not afford transportation charges in the wake of corona pandemic and they are facing numerous difficulties while visiting Peshawar and Swat kidney centers.

Talking to The Nation, a patient Muham­mad Saeed said that his daughter is suffer­ing kidney failure for the last five years and they are regularly visiting the Nawaz Shar­if Hospital for dialysis but there is a huge rush of patients and it takes much time to get their appointment.

He said that due to the corona pandemic there are multiple problems including lack of doctors and transport which further de­teriorates the health of a patient.

He said that the only solution to mitigate our problems is the provision of a dialy­sis machine which would facilitate the pa­tients to travel Peshawar and Swat.

Hospital Spokesman Tasleem-ul-Haq said that the hospital will soon get a state-of-the-art casualty department for which funds and space have been proposed in the old parking area of the hospital. The authorities have also agreed to provide a dialysis centre to the hos­pital in order to ease the miseries of the kid­ney patients, he added.

When contacted, MPA from Buner Riaz Khan, he said that they have approved this scheme along with a 40-bed casualty de­partment for the District Headquarter Hospital Daggar.

He added that earlier Rs 100 million were allocated for the renovation of the District Headquarter Hospital Daggar but he rejected this idea and stressed on basic facilities instead of renovation.

He also mentioned corona disease is one of the major causes, which has delayed the developmental schemes of his con­stituency and as the pandemic ends, these schemes would gain momentum for the uplift of the masses.

It is to be mentioned here in the last ten­ure of Pakistan Muslim League (N), Sheh­baz Sharif had established a kidney hos­pital in Swat which had provided great relief to the local patient of Swat and Bun­er, however, later, the hospital faced a lot of issues including low voltage and short­age of funds which had affected the health­care facilities.