June 1, 2006	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 4, 1427

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SUKKUR, May 31: Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim said here on Tuesday that there was no ban on recuruitment in Sindh, but made it clear that all appointments would be made on merit.

The chief minister said he had told departments that they were free to recruit people according to their requirements and the laid-down procedure of the Sindh government. However, he said there would be no quota system in the recruitment.

He was speaking at the foundation-stone laying ceremony of the Sardar Ghulam Mohammad Khan Medical College in Sukkur that would cost Rs500 millions.

The past governments, he said, had neglected the health department, but “we have done a lot for them and given a proper service structure to the medics and paramedics “.

The chief minister said his government had promoted over 2,000 doctors, who had been on the waiting list for years. The provincial government had also decided thousands of cases of nurses awaiting promotion from Grade 14 to Grade 16 and 17.

The chief minister said he would lay the foundation stone of another medical college in Mirpurkhas in the next week.

Dr Arbab said his government had sufficient funds and declared that all the civil hospitals in the 23 districts of the province would be upgraded and modernized by the end of 2007.

About education, the chief minister said he had directed provincial departments to devise 50 or 100 year planning to establish schools, colleges and medical colleges. He had also asked them to recruit people strictly on merit.

The chief minister said the Khairpur-Larkana Indus river bridge had been okayed by the federal government and its construction would be started in the next financial year.

Similarly, work on the Thatta-Sajawal river bridge would also be started very soon. Linking of these important towns would not only expedite the socio-economic development, but would also save time and money of the locals, especially farmers, facilitating their access to adjoining towns.

The chief minister said he had also directed for increasing the seats of medical colleges of Sindh to create more doctors.

There was no ban on doctors if they found job abroad, Dr Arbab said, because this would gave them an opportunity to ameliorate their living conditions. New doctors would replace the people going abroad, he added.

He said his government was committed to fulfilling the dream of President General Pervez Musharraf for providing filtered water to the people before 2007. The facility would be made available even at the villages and union councils (UCs) of far-flung areas.

He said water situation was satisfactory.

Earlier, Zila Nazim Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Sindh Health Secretary Dr Naushad Ahmed Shaikh, principal of the under-construction medical college Dr Abrar Shaikh and Sindh Health Minister Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani also spoke at the ceremony.

MQM-CM ISSUE: Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim has dismissed the impression of differences with the coalition partner, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, saying that “all of us are working in the spirit of unity and accommodation”.

In a brief chat with newsmen at the foundation stone laying ceremony, the chief minister said: “We should bury the past.”

The chief minister said he believed in a spirit of tolerance and understanding, and expressed the hope that everybody would play his role in a positive manner.