Ghanche deputy commissioner flags shortage of specialist doctors at Khaplu Hospital
Daily Independent reported the shortfall at the district headquarters hospital but gave no number of vacant posts, the specialities affected, or when the complaint was made.
The deputy commissioner of Ghanche has flagged a shortage of specialist doctors at Khaplu Hospital, the government's main health facility in the district, according to a report by Daily Independent.
The report said the deputy commissioner raised the shortfall of specialists at the hospital. It did not give the number of vacant specialist posts, name the departments affected, or say where and to whom the deputy commissioner made the complaint. No response from the hospital administration or from the Gilgit-Baltistan health department was carried in the report.
Khaplu is the headquarters of Ghanche, the easternmost district of Gilgit-Baltistan. Khaplu Hospital is the district headquarters hospital to which patients from the district's valleys are brought.
The absence of specialists at district hospitals in Gilgit-Baltistan generally means patients needing consultant care are referred onward to Skardu or to hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, a journey of several hours from Khaplu depending on road conditions.
Skardu Times could not independently verify how many specialist posts at Khaplu Hospital are vacant, which specialities are missing, or how long the posts have been unfilled. The Daily Independent report carried no figures on any of these points.
Staffing at the region's smaller district hospitals has been a recurring subject of public complaint in Gilgit-Baltistan, where specialist recruitment and retention are widely described as difficult because of distance, workload and limited postgraduate training opportunities in the region.
Khaplu lies in the Shyok valley and serves as the administrative and commercial centre for Ghanche, a district that includes the Hushe, Thalle and Khaplu valleys and borders Indian-administered Ladakh to the east.
This report will be updated if the deputy commissioner's office, the hospital administration or the Gilgit-Baltistan health department issues a statement giving the number of vacant posts or detailing any recruitment plan.
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