QUETTA, June 28: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has placed under suspension the services of 14 doctors of the District Headquarters Hospital, Chaman, after an inspection team found all of them to be absent from work.

The people of the area had been complaining to the health department that the doctors remained absent from the government hospital for long periods. They said the doctors had been working at private hospitals and clinics even during the time they were supposed to work at the district hospital and for which they regularly drew salary.

Sources told Dawn on Friday that the complaints prompted Dr Baloch to direct the deputy commissioner of Qila Abdullah, Saifullah Khetran, to visit the district hospital in Chaman and submit a report about the attendance of doctors and the medical facilities being provided there.

After carrying out his inspection, the deputy commissioner informed the chief minister that he found all the 14 doctors of the hospital to be absent from work.

Subsequently, the chief minister ordered that the doctors’ services be placed under suspension. He also ordered the start of a departmental inquiry against the erring doctors.

The doctors whose services have been suspended include Dr Abdul Samad, Dr Muhammad Gul Shah, Dr Muhammad Anwar, Dr Wajid, Dr Asmatullah, Dr Muhammad Siddique, Dr Amanullah, Dr Abid Hussain, Dr Bilqees Ara, Dr Gulshan Ara, Dr Naila Murtaza, and Dr Zaibun Nisa.

Dr Baloch told legislators that he had also asked the health department and district administration officials of Kalat, Mastung and other districts to check the attendance of doctors so that departmental action could be taken in case of persistent absenteeism or negligence.

“Government employees will have to face the music if they are found to be absent because due to their negligence poor people suffer difficulties and hardships,” the chief minister said.

The sources told Dawn that Dr Baloch had been receiving complaints also about smuggling of medicines from the government-run hospitals to Afghanistan and Iran. They said the chief minister was considering taking action against the people involved in the wrongdoing.