January 04, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 24, 1428

KOHAT, Jan 3: The local elders and politicians held a demonstration against the closure of the emergency unit and the outpatient department of the Liaquat Memorial Hospital on Thursday.

The protesters were led by the president of the Kohat Traders Forum, Haji Abid Paracha, PML-N president Sher Khan Bangash, Maulana Abdul Hayee, Shahbaz Gul Shinwari, Dilawar Khan, Pir Ghalib Shah and the district president of Jamaat-i-Islami.

The medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Sher Khan, citing reasons for closure of the emergency unit and the OPD told protesters that they had to refer serious patients either to Peshawar or the KDA divisional medical complex because facilities at his hospital were not of much use.

He also said that there was a serious security problem during the night in the Liaquat Memorial Hospital.

However, the medical superintendent and Dr Ajab Ali, who runs the Liaquat Memorial Hospital, assured the protesters that the emergency and the OPD would also start functioning soon.

The protesters also chanted slogans against the SNGPL and marched on its offices. The divisional engineer for SNGPL, Rehan Khan, told protesters that a summary had already been approved for laying an 8-inch diameter pipeline from Dhodha village to the Kohat city to overcome the problem of low gas pressure.

He added that the SNGPL had suspended gas supply to textile and other mills in the area to restore the pressure but the problem persisted.