QUETTA, Dec 2: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Balochistan chapter, has announced continuing token boycott of out-patient departments in government hospitals till Dr Akbar Marri and Dr Din Muhammad, who went missing about three years ago, return.

The announcement was made by Dr Sultan Tareen, chief of the core committee of the PMA, at a press conference here on Monday.

In reply to a question, he said the two doctors should be produced before a court of law if they were wanted in any case and if not then their confinement is illegal.

Talking about frequent incidents of abduction of doctors in the province, Dr Tareen urged the government to reimburse the amount that had been paid to kidnappers to get doctors freed over the past years.

“The core committee of the PMA keeping in view the difficulty being faced by patients has decided to relax boycott hours. Now we will attend patients in the OPDs from 8am to 11am,” he said.

Criticising the government and law-enforcement agencies for what he called their inaction, the PMA leader said that Rs50 million was paid to kidnappers for the release of Dr Munaf Tareen on Sunday.

Dr Munaf was kidnapped on Sept 17.

NO RANSOM PAID: However, Dr Munaf rejected Dr Tareen’s claim that he had been freed after payment of ransom.

Dr Munaf told reporters on Monday that he had escaped from the captivity of kidnappers in Uthal area when they were shifting him from one place to another in a vehicle. He jumped from the vehicle when it stopped and ran away in the darkness, Dr Munaf said. “I slipped and fell into a ditch where I hid in the bush.”

He said kidnappers tried to find him but failed.

“After some time, I came out of the ditch and contacted the district administration with the help of local people.”