9 April 2005	Saturday	29 Safar 1426

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LAHORE, April 8: Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed on Friday agreed to form an independent inquiry committee for investigating the death of a patient in the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

Responding to an adjournment motion during the Punjab Assembly session by Farzana Raja of the PPP on the death of 32-year-old Samina Rashid during an operation, the minister said he was also not satisfied with inquiry report of the hospital.

Apparently, he said, leproscopy was normal procedure which was in vogue in many countries. Death of a patient in such a normal operation should be a matter of concern for all and should be investigated by an independent team.

Ms Raja had drawn attention of the house towards the death of Ms Rashid who was taken to hospital with abdominal pain. She was diagnosed with stone in gallbladder and suggested leproscopy. She was taken to operation theatre. She died during the operation, apparently by a hole in liver caused by laser rays during the operation.

Another call attention notice which created jitters in the assembly was of Asghar Ali Qaiser who blamed that the district Nazim of Faisalabad owned Metro Bus Service in the city and police were harassing motorcycle rickshaws out of routes of its operation. He claimed that over 1,300 rickshaw drivers were at risk if the Nazim was not controlled.

Transport Minister Rana Shamshad, denying the situation, said there were only 500 such rickshaws in Faisalabad who got route permits. Others do not have permits and causing financial loss to the country. The government was moving against them and not working on behalf of someone in the district setup.

The speaker disposed of the motion to the much anger of the opposition.

Mr Qaiser, through another call attention notice, drew the attention of the house to desilting campaign in the province and said the silt removed at a cost of Rs600 million was finding its way back into canals because it was dumped on their banks.

Irrigation Minister Aamer Sultan Cheema denied the allegation and said silt was dumped 10 feet away from banks and could not come back to canals. However, his answer failed to satisfy the mover and the speaker disposed it of amid pandemonium.