June 15, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 10, 1429

DADU, June 14: The EDO health of Dadu fired 40 lady doctors on Saturday who were appointed at Dadu Civil Hospital and other hospitals of the district three months ago on 12-month contract basis.

It has been said that they were appointed without following properly legal formalities.

However, the paucity of funds has been termed the reason of their firing.

The affected doctors led by Dr Shazia Panhwar, Dr Bilquees Memon, and Dr Shoba Kumari, staged a protest demonstration outside the OPD of Civil Hospital.

Dr Shazia Panhwar told who were present there that the sacked lady doctors were performing their duties accordingly, but they were not being paid salaries since last three months.

She said that three months ago the conducting of Caesarean operations at the Civil Hospital had been stopped but after the posting of lady doctors it restarted.

She claimed that she had carried out 100 Caesarean operations in a month.

Dr Bilquees Memon said that they all were qualified and experienced doctors and were working on a meagre salary of Rs15,000 per month, and claimed that their termination was unjustified.

When contacted, the civil surgeon of Dadu, Dr Taufiq Ahmed Memon, said that before the appointments, the female ward of the Civil Hospital used to remain locked, but after the appointment of these lady doctors, the ward became operational, where 10 to 12 operations were used to be carried out daily.

He said that the termination of female doctors would affect the working of hospitals in the district.

The EDO health of Dadu, Dr Rafique Ahmed Kolachi, said that to improve the performance of hospitals he had appointed lady doctors on contract three months ago.

He said that according to the terms and conditions of the contract, when funds will be released, they would be paid salaries and their contract could be terminated at anytime without any prior notice.

He said that due to paucity of funds he had terminated these doctors. However, he admitted that hospitals will be affected by this move.