KHYBER
A protest rally of the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Landi Kotal staff was held against prolonged power outages on Wednesday.
They temporarily shut down hospital services, however, emergency and labor room services remained operational to ensure critical care for patients.
While holding banners inscribed with statements in favor of their demand, the protestors took a rally from the hospital to Iqra Chowk, where employees chanted slogans against the Tribal Electric Supply Company (TESCO), accusing it of unjustly disconnecting the hospital’s electricity supply.
Speaking to the media, Dr. Feroz, President of the Paramedical Association, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Afridi, and Khayal Madar Shinwari stated that the hospital had been regularly paying its dues, yet its power supply was disconnected without justification.
The Court twice ruled in favor of the hospital, and directed the TESCO to restore electricity, but the orders were not honored, they regretted.
They revealed that the suspension of electricity had severely disrupted hospital services in addition to causing a shortage of clean drinking water.
Patients and their attendants appealed to the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to take immediate notice of the situation and ensure restoration of electricity and provision of basic facilities to prevent further hardship for the public.
When the TESCO official was contacted on the issue he said that DHQ Hospital had one hundred and sixty million rupees areas therefore on the order of their high-up its power was cut off.
Until paying the area, the power supply could not be restored, he added.
