KARACHI, Jan 7: Rejecting reports of a criminal assault on a lady doctor of the Sui Field Hospital on Jan2-3 night, the Pakistan Petroleum Limited said on Friday that the doctor was severely beaten up by some robbers who had broken into her room in the hospital.

A statement issued by the PPL here said that according to the lady doctor's statement, the robbers manhandled her when she resisted them and after beating her severely they escaped with jewellery and cash.

The lady doctor was injured and had been in a state of deep shock since the incident, the statement added. The PPL's management at Sui, the statement said, had provided immediate medical treatment to the doctor and subsequently moved her to Karachi in view of her traumatized condition.

The Sui police and local administration were duly informed. The statement also said that the condition of the lady doctor was now stable and she had been moved to her parent's house.

Dawn reporter in Quetta adds: The Dera Bugti administration has described the incident at the Sui hospital as one of robber and not of criminal assault. District Coordination Officer Abdul Samad Lasi told Dawn he was informed by the PPL that the bandits had deprived the doctor of Rs25,000 cash and gold bangles.

Mr Lasi also said that the PPL authorities had shifted the lady to Karachi without informing the district administration and did not allow police or the area's tehsildar to investigate the matter.

The DCO denied reports saying that female staff of the Sui hospital or school had left the town for Karachi after the incident and said that all personnel were working as usual.