The Nawaz Sharif Kidney Hospital first opened its door to patients in 2016 in Swat. Today, two years later, it is ready to close down, as funds dry up.
Initiated in 2012, the specialised hospital cost the then-government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Rs800 million. Its operational expenses were being met by the trust set up under the Punjab Trust Hospital. That the funds were rolling in from Punjab and not Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Swat is located, was one of the contentious issues during the previous regime. However, now, the Punjab trust has stopped bankrolling the hospital completely and the poor patients of the northern province have been left in the lurch.
“Once inaugurated, patients from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa used to come here for free treatment such as dialyses, which can otherwise cost a lot,” said Dr Muhammad Ayub, the medical superintendent at the Kidney Hospital, “The former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had also once donated his salary for the running of the hospital.” This year, from January to date, not a single penny has been sent to the administration, he adds.
Several emergency meetings are being held to decide the future of the staff and to determine how the medicines will be provided to the admitted patients.
“If we don’t pay our gas and electricity bills immediately, we will lose all connections,” explained Dr Ayub.
The 116-bed hospital is the only one of its kind for the over two million population of Swat. There are 14 dialyses machines, which were to be expanded to 28 in the following year. “Our number of patients keep increasing,” says Dr Rahmat Ali, “But we are forced to turn them away now.”
Ahmad Ali, 30, needs four dialyses a month, each costs Rs. 16,000. “Since the treatment was free till now, I did not have to worry,” Ali tells Geo.tv, “Nowadays, I am forced to go to mosques and ask for donations.”
An official in the Punjab Trust Hospital, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he is certain the funds will soon come through at least for three more years. After that, the hospital will be handed over to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department.