MULTAN: Another fake doctor was arrested from Nishtar Hospital on Sunday, taking the tally of fake doctors caught in the hospital to eight.

Sabahat Sher Khan, the chief security officer of the hospital, informed the police that during an inspection, a vigilance team visited the emergency ward of the hospital when a man, identified as Javed Iqbal, came to a ward and introduced himself as a doctor of surgery. He also showed his service card. When the hospital record was checked, it was revealed that there was no doctor of this name in surgery department of the hospital. The suspect was arrested and he admitted that he used to get free medical tests of patients from the Nishtar staff by introducing himself as a doctor besides convincing the patients and their attendants to shift to private hospitals to earn commission.

It is pertinent to mention here that Nishtar Medical University Vice Chancellor Dr Mustafa Kamal Pasha has constituted a vigilance committee to conduct a crackdown on fake doctors.

According to hospital sources, eight fake doctors have been caught from the hospital so far.

GOVERNOR: Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar said the country’s economic crisis was the result of wrong policies of the previous governments.

Talking to the media on Sunday after inaugurating a water treatment plant in the district jail here, the governor said the PTI government was paying interest of the foreign loans amounting Rs30,000bn, taken by the former governments.

He said Chief Minister Umsan Buzdar was performing his duties with commitment and efficiency.

“It is a matter of pride that Prime Minister Imran Khan selected an MPA from middle class of the south Punjab for the slot of the chief minister.”

Mr Sarwar added that the CM was performing his duties in consultation with the cabinet and the party. He said the incumbent leadership was eligible to bring the country out of the crisis and the people would soon see improvement in the economy.

Talking about the PTI leader, Aleem Khan, he said, “Aleem Khan had appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) whenever he was summoned. The arrest of Aleem Khan is evidence that the institutions are independent to perform their duties. Aleem Khan set a great moral example by resigning from the post of senior minister”.

About the creation of south Punjab province, the governor said consultations with the parliamentarians to reach a decision about the capital of proposed south Punjab province were under way and the final decision in this regard would be made unanimously.

Speaking about the project that he went to inaugurate, Mr Sarwar said the government wanted to provide the best facilities to prisoners and water purification plants were being installed in the jails as a part of this drive.

He said billions were spent on the projects of clean drinking water by the previous government but 90pc of the projects had been closed.

“Every year, two million people were losing their lives in the country due to polluted water,” he said.

The governor said that during his visit of a jail in Karachi he was informed that a prisoner had completed his jail term in 2011 but he was still in jail due to non-payment of fine. He said the government would find a legal way to pay the fine of such prisoners from the national exchequer.

WASTEWATER: Khanewal’s special magistrate (environment) will hear tomorrow (Tuesday) the case of discharge of wastewater by a multinational company into Shamkot Minor Link Canal, Haveli Bahadur Shah.

As per details, Rashid Ali, a resident of Jaswant Nagar, Khanewal, had filed a case in the court of senior civil judge/environment magistrate, complaining that a private company, Nestle, had established a factory in Khanewal where he also had established a cattle farm near Dingian Pullan.

Mr Rashid stated that the company, after laying a 2/3km pipeline, was discharging its wastewater into the canal which was polluting the canal water. He said both humans and animals consumed the water, which was also used for to irrigate crops.

He requested the court that water released by the factory should be sent to laboratory for examination as according to an agreement between the environmental protection department and the firm, it was the latter’s obligation to ensure that ‘treated and untreated effluent shall not be discharged into any surface or subsurface water body and sanitary conditions in and around the project will be to the entire satisfaction of the department during operational phase of the project”.

Magistrate Jamil Ahmed Khokhar had directed the executive officer Irrigation Department and human resource officer of Nestle to appear before the court on Feb 12.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2019