THATTA: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah expressed dissatisfaction over the poor performance of health department and healthcare facilities as he inquired about the health of patients who were injured in a tragic accident, which also claimed nine lives, on Thatta-Hyderabad highway at 2.00 am on Sunday.

Talking to journalists at Makli Civil Hospital early in the morning before setting out on a whirlwind tour of Thatta and Sujawal districts, the chief minister said that he had formed a special committee headed by secretary of health to expedite steps to streamline health sector.

He announced the government would bear expenses of the treatment of the critically injured passengers who were shifted to Karachi. At least nine people were killed and 30 were injured when a Shahdadkot-bound bus collided head-on with a stone laden dumper.

CM voices dissatisfaction over health dept performance

Mr Shah said in reply to a question about newcomers joining the Pakistan Peoples Party that the PPP’s doors were always open for all but the decision to accept newcomers was not taken without consent of party activists and leadership.

He said that his predecessor Syed Qaim Ali Shah did a good job and he too was following in his steps for a prosperous Sindh. People would soon realise major changes in the province, he said.

About political dreams and predictions of PPP leader Manzoor Wassan, he said that Mr Wassan was the proper person to reply such queries.

The chief minister said during a visit to under-construction bridge on Indus river parallel to the old Doolah Darya Khan bridge that the completion of the Rs2.700 billion bridge in October this year would open new avenues of livelihood and facilitate growing traffic from Karachi to Mithi.

As his motorcade was moving through the Thatta town, he suddenly stopped by a roadside store and walked into it to have a can of juice to the delight of traders and members of general public who gathered round him and presented him Ajraks.

Nine killed in tragic accident

Nine passengers, including women and children, were killed and 30 others were injured when a coach Shahdadkot-bound which was coming from Karachi collided head-on with a dumper laden with stones near Dadori bus stop on the Thatta-Hyderabad highway at 2:00 am on Sunday.

Eyewitnesses said the bus overturned after the dumper hit it and fell into a ditch, resulting in instant death of Jan Bibi, her five-year-old son Shoaib Magsi, Lal Khatoon Channa, her niece Shakeela, Abdur Rehman Babar, Raheem Khokhar, Bachai, Sher Mohammad and his nine-year-old son Murawat.

Some of the injured were identified as Jalil, Bachal, Mukhtiar, Sumera, Punhal, Ashiq, Haji Khan, Sarwer Pathan, Ameerudin, Jahangir, Anwer, Khursheed Akhter, Mohammad khan and others.

Majority of the injured had sustained critical wounds whose names could not be ascertained immediately and were rushed to Karachi through Eidhi ambulances.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2016