HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Some residents of western Herat province complain of equipment and personnel shortages at the Zonal Hospital in the provincial capital.
The lack of medical staff has always been a key challenge but officials have promised that 170 personnel will be recruited soon to resolve the issue.
Residents believe due to the lack of health personnel in the hospital, doctors often do not pay much attention to examining patients carefully.
Gul Ahmad, hailing from the Ghorian district who had brought his ailing father to the Zonal Hospital, told Pajhwok Afghan News there was a shortage of staff.
He urged the government to provide the major health facility with the required equipment and ensure quality treatment of patients.
Ahmad said his father had been in the ICU for the past three days. Doctors visited him but there was a shortage of medical staff at the hospital, he protested.
Jawad is another man who came to the hospital for treatment. He endorsed Ahmad’s comment and said doctors were doing a good job but due to a large number of patients they could not examine everyone properly.
“The emergency section of the hospital is very active. But there is only one doctor for each branch and he could not attend to all patients.”
Overall, the residents demanded an increase in personnel numbers so that all patients were treated carefully.
In the meantime, health experts in Herat City are worried about the lack of personnel at the Zonal Hospital.
Dr. Waheed Noorzad said the issue of lack of medical staff at the main hospital should be resolved on emergency bases, because people from different provinces referred to the facility.
He warned the personnel and equipment shortage might annoy people when it came to the provision of health services.
But Zonal Hospital Director Mohammad Arif Jalali said 170 personnel would be hired soon to serve people. He added 70 percent of problems in terms of human resources would be resolved after new appointments. More nurses, trainers and specialists are to be appointed.
Sixty of the new personnel will be hired on a contractual basis while 110 will be appointed through open competition.
“The process of appointments to grade five, six, seven and eight posts is underway and efforts are ongoing to fill vacant positions,” he explained.
The Zonal Hospital has 650 beds, with 1,500 patients from Herat and other provinces visiting the facility for medical treatment on a daily basis.
nh/mud
