Peshawar   -   International medical organisation Medecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in 2021 celebrates completion of providing 10 years of medical care at Peshawar women’s hospital. 

MSF opened the hospital for women and neonates in 2011, addressing the need for maternal and child healthcare in the rural areas of Peshawar and the merged tribal districts (previously known as FATA) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

Peshawar Women’s Hospital offers comprehensive emergency obstetric and neonatal care for patients from socio-economically disadvantaged situations, including refugees and internally displaced people free of charge. 

The obstetric facility has 24 beds, with a labour room, delivery room, and operation theatre for complicated or caesarean section deliveries. The hospital offers 24/7 emergency care for those women suffering from complicated pregnancies and difficult deliveries. 

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary, Kamran Khan, MSF project coordinator in Peshawar, says, “The need for mother and child healthcare is high in the region and MSF is providing basic obstetric care for the patients from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Afghan refugees. For ten years, we have provided health care to women with severe pregnancy complications to caesarean section and neonates born with complications or infections. . 

The hospital continued to provide its services amid the COVID-19 pandemic and strict measures were implemented to ensure the safety of patients and staff.”

The hospital works with Basic Health Units (BHU) in Peshawar district and accepts women referred from BHUs and other medical structures in the merged tribal districts Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (previously known as FATA). The hospital supports a new born unit with 15 beds high dependency unit a capacity for the care of newborns with severe medical conditions.

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, MSF’s Peshawar women’s hospital created a screening area at the entrance to preserve the maternity services from possible spread of the disease. 

A separate isolation delivery room was built, together with an isolation in-patient room for the patients. Personal protection equipment (PPE), such as masks, sanitizer, gowns and gloves are also provided to make the hospital a safe place for the health workers, patients and their caretakers.