July 13, 2008	Sunday	Rajab 9, 1429

LARKANA, July 12: The names of 1300 doctors and paramedics who had cleared tests conducted by the National Testing Service (NTS) have been sent to the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) for scrutiny.

The SPSC after verification of documents would hold viva examinations of the candidates and would recommend them to Sindh government for appointments.

Sindh Health Secretary Shafique Khoso said this while talking to Dawn after the inauguration of a two-day seminar on “Primary Trauma Care” at Chandka Medical College Larkana on Saturday.

He said that SPSC had been asked to complete the exercise within a month.

When asked why a bill to establish the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SBBMU) in Larkana had been delayed, he said they were working on it.

He said the cabinet of Sindh would shortly okay the bill and later it would be presented in the next session of the Sindh assembly. He hoped that the bill would be passed.

It has been learnt that earlier it was decided to link the Nawabshah Medical College with the SBBMU, but now the idea has been dropped and that is why the bill has been delayed.

The secretary said that Basic Health Units and Rural Health Units in Sindh after changing their managements were performing well.Responding to a question that medicines of inferior quality had been purchased and supplied to the district headquarters, taluka headquarters and teaching hospitals, he said he would ensure the supply of quality medicines to hospitals.

“We are in touch with the federal government to get foreign scholarships for the doctors of interior of Sindh,” he said.

Doctors from interior of Sindh in past had been ignored and now Sindh government had decided to send them abroad in different disciplines for higher education, Khoso said.

Pakistan Health Services Director-General Prof Rashid A. Jumma, Dr Saeed Minhas, Chandka Mdical College Principal Prof Surgeon Sikandar Shaikh, Dr Zameer Soomro and others also spoke in the seminar.

They underlined the need for understanding the priorities of trauma management with rapid and accurate assessment of needs of a patient in trauma.