March, 15 2005	Tuesday	04 Safar 1426

KARACHI, March 14: The Sindh Assembly was on Monday informed that 130 posts of doctors and 53 of other staff were lying vacant in various basic health units in Tharparkar district.

Minister for Planning and Development Syed Shoaib Ahmed Bukhari, speaking on behalf of the chief minister during question hour, said that the total number of sanctioned posts of doctors in grade-17 and above was 233 out of which 103 had already been filled. He was responding to a question asked by Asardas Hemnani.

He said the number of sanctioned posts of non-gazzetted employees was 660 of which 607 had been filled.

Replying to a question asked by Ms Humaira Alwani, the minister said that out of 31 sanctioned posts of doctors, 20 were lying vacant in Mirpur Bathoro Hospital in Thatta district.

In reply to another question asked by the same member, Mr Bukhari said that except for the civil hospitals in Karachi and Khairpur, no civil hospital in the province had the facilities for treatment, rehabilitation and physiotherapy of special children.

Responding to a supplementary question, he said that the government intended to establish separate wards with such facilities for special children in civil hospitals, adding that the finance department would assess the fund requirement for allocation in the next budget.

The minister also told the house that the health department had issued directives to all EDOs (health) and town office