The shortage of doctors, medicines and other facilities in Civil Veterinary Hospital in Bhara Kahu has made a mockery of the government’s claims of having a team of experts in all fields to bring about a revolutionary change in the country.
The Civil Veterinary Hospital in Bhara Kahu, which is catering to the people of areas from Murree and some parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), has become a picture of negligence, as it has no gas connection and its boundary wall is quite small despite the fact that it is located on the main Murree Road.
The six-room hospital has been established back in 1928 with a housing colony for the families of five staffers; however Veterinary Officer Dr Kashid, who is also the head of the Civil Veterinary hospital, is in Australia for the last one year.
Sources told Pakistan Today that the government is least bothered to replace Dr Kashid or ensure his presence in the hospital. He is in deputation, despite a rise in cases of animals’ diseases.
They said that doctors did not prefer permanent posting on the post of veterinary officer in Islamabad, because there is no rule of up-gradation from grade 17 in the federal capital; hence doctors have been deputed on deputation.
Sources further told that the officials at grade 17 get themselves transferred to veterinary hospitals in KP and elsewhere in the country before reaching the age of superannuation in order to get promotion.
Talking to Pakistan Today, people of the locality complained that they brought their animals for treatment here from far flung areas but they were not provided medicines. They said that they were provided very little medicines, while they had to buy the expensive medicines from private clinics.
Shahid Abbasi, who visited the hospital to get medicine from the hospital, lamented that he came from Murree to get medicine from the hospital; however the doctor gave him a little medicine in a bottle and asked to buy the rest from a private clinic.
He said that sometimes it is not possible to bring animals to the hospital, but doctors have often refused to visit home for check-up of animals during duty hours due to which in most cases their animals do not make it. However, he said that doctors shown willingness for animals check-up at homes after official time because than they charged the poor heavily.
Malik Asar, who brought his cow to the hospital, complained that the animals related diseases are frequent now-a-days, adding that the government should provide all facilities in the hospitals. He said that there was only one veterinary assistant in the hospital and very little medicine, which could not meet the growing need of the areas.
He demanded the government to provide more doctors to the hospital because animals-related diseases are quite common these days. Talking to Pakistan Today, Veterinary Assistant Abdur Rehman said that at present there are a total of four employees in the hospital including a veterinary assistant, a technician and two others.
He said that they treated an average 500 animals monthly and sent a detailed report to the head office each month, adding that disease of sheep and goats are frequent. The veterinary assistant said that he did not visit home for animals’ check-up during duty hour due to fewer staffers in the hospital, since there is no one to check the animals in the hospital in his absence.
To a question, he said that there is sufficient medicine in the hospital, but it is not possible all the time to provide every medicine, because all sort of medicine are not always available. He confirmed that Veterinary Officer Dr Kashid is in Australia, but refrained from sharing any further detail in this regard.
