July 02, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 16, 1428

MUZAFFARGARH, July 1: The district health officer suspended from service two doctors and a dispenser of a rural health centre as they allegedly did not attend to a snake-bitten woman who died three hours after reaching the centre.

According to reports, Perveen was taken to Rohallanwali Rural Health Centre after a snake bit her on Saturday. She remained there for three hours, but not treated.

Her family members said that dispenser Rana Muhammad Iqbal told them that doctors Iqbal Sajid and Rafiq Bhatti were on their way to the centre and they would treat her. She died three hours after reaching the centre, they said, adding that the doctors did not reach the centre even two hours after her death.

The incident enraged the locals who locked the centre and blocked the Muzaffargarh-Alipur Road for three hours. The protesters, who were also carrying Perveen’s body, chanted slogans against the doctors.

The protest prompted District Health Officer Malik Ashiq Husain to visit the centre and check the record. He said both doctors had marked their attendance in the official attendance register, but they were attending patients at their private clinics when Perveen was dying at the centre. He suspended both doctors and the dispenser and assured Perveen’s family of official action against them. On this assurance, the locals ended their protest.

LABOURER KILLED: A labourer was killed and 20 others, including 10 women, were injured when a van carrying them to a mill overturned on Muzaffargarh-Mahmoodkot Road on Saturday.

The van overturned near Muhammad Musa shrine because it was overloaded. As a result, Ijaz Husain, 22, died at the scene and 20 others were injured. Two of them were critical.