September 16, 2006	Saturday	Sha'aban 22, 1427

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SAHIWAL, Sept 15: Local office-bearers of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) have criticised district nazim Rai Hassan Nawaz for showing lack of interest in upgrading the DHQ Hospital.

PMA president Dr Naeem Akhtar, secretary-general Dr Hammad Raza, finance secretary Dr Abdul Majeed and vice-president Shahzad Hussain expressed their resentment against the district nazim at a press conference here on Friday.

They gave out that a summary for upgrading the hospital to A-grade category had already been sent to the Punjab chief minister.

The DHQ Hospital had a strength of 430 beds, enough to meet the criteria of 400 beds for the A-grade status, they said.

The district nazim, they claimed, could not provide a requisite certificate to the Punjab government, which was the main hurdle in the upgradation of the hospital.

PMA office-bearers said that hospitals at Sialkot, Gujranwala and Gujrat were given the A-grade status after nazims of these districts had furnished the requisite certificate to the Punjab government.

The DHQ Hospital needs the requisite certificate desired from the district government to meet additional expenditures on account of recruitment of 30 more medical officers.

This certificate further allows the district government to recruit MOs only to the extent for which the district government could easily make the provision of funds.

The district nazim had given an assurance to make available funds, but he failed to fulfill his promise on the plea that the district council did not have sufficient funds.

PMA office-bearers said that 12 house jobs of the DHQ Hospital, which was transferred to Lahore provisionally long time back, should be reverted back.

The PMA would launch a protest drive if the King Edward Medical University campus on the DHQ Hospital, already agreed upon by the KEMU, was not opened immediately, they said.

They said that Rs5 million grant provided to Haji Abdul Qayyum Hospital under the Annual Support Programme should not be diverted to the DHQ Hospital as stated by the district nazim.

Run by philanthropists, Haji Abdul Qayyum Hospital had already been meeting step-motherly treatment for the last 12 years. This hospital had received a grant of Rs1 million only once from the then Punjab chief minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.