07 January 2004	Wednesday	14 Ziqa'ad 1424

HYDERABAD, Jan 6: Sindh Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar has rejected a summary seeking establishment of a regional office of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan in the premises of the Civil Hospital, Hyderabad.

An official source told this correspondent on Tuesday that the CPSP wanted to establish its office free of cost on the hospital land but Mr Mahar recommended that the office should be established at the Jamshoro branch of the hospital.

He said the chief minister disapproved the summary sent by DCO Mohammad Hussain Syed. The demolition of old casualty and orthopaedic wards for the establishment of the CPSP office had been completed before the chief minister's order for suspending the demolition.

In September last year, Mr Mahar took serious notice of giving a 2,000 square feet plot of the CHH to the CPSP free of cost. He ordered an inquiry to ascertain as to who had ordered the disposal of the land without payment, after the matter was brought into his knowledge by Sindh Auqaf, Zakat, Ushr, Religious and Minority Affairs Minister Dr Irfan Gul Magsi.

The EDO, health, Dr Ashraf Bhurgari, conducted the inquiry and recommended that the CPSP should not be allowed to set up its office in the CHH premises as it would lead to congestion at the hospital. His report was sent to the DCO.

The DCO said the EDO had opposed the office's establishment but had given no reasons as to why the office should be established in Jamshoro and not in the city.

The DCO said District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman also supported the proposal to set up the office at the CHH as it was in the centre of the city and postgraduate students could easily access it.

CHH sources said the CPSP charged Rs30,000 to Rs40,000 as admission fee and an equal amount for examinations. They said it did not offer any concession in fees to students of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences.

They said the CHH was ready to hand over half of the area of the Bilawal Hostel, currently in possession of rangers, to the CPSP, provided the law enforcement agency agreed to it. They said negotiations in this regard were under way.