December 05, 2006	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 13, 1427

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PESHAWAR, Dec 4: Former president of the Specialist Doctors Association Dr Said Alam Mehsud has urged the provincial government to reinstate the doctors who had resigned in protest against institution-based practice (IBP) in 2001.

Speaking at a news conference here at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday, Dr Mehsud said that after the failure of the IBP system it had become imperative for the NWFP government to reinstate the doctors, who had resigned to protest against the IBP plan.

He also asked the government to register a case against former governor, Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, and director-general of health, Brig. Habibur Rehman, for bringing a bad name to doctors.

The former NWFP governor had introduced the IBP system and banned the private practice by doctors serving in government hospitals. The NWFP government, through a bill adopted on Nov 22, abolished the IBP system, but didn't reinstate the doctors who had resigned against the plan.

He said the failure of the IBP system had vindicated senior doctors’ stand over the issue. Dr Mehsud accused the former governor and the former DG health of undermining the specialist doctors’ reputation and their standing in the eyes of the people.

He demanded of the government to open an inquiry into the matter and pay damages to the protesting doctors. Otherwise, he said, they would take the matter to superior courts. He claimed that some private (medical) colleges had offered them handsome packages if they joined them.

He claimed that Maulana Amanullah of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party had submitted two separate bills with the NWFP Assembly Secretariat for the early reinstatement of the specialist doctors, but the NWFP government had got a new and incomplete bill passed from the assembly.

He further claimed that the House select committee, in its recommendations, had asked the government to reinstate the senior doctors, but the health department had ignored this request. He said the doctors’ society had filed a case against the IBP system in the Supreme Court, which was still pending there.