BAHAWALPUR: The Punjab government has withheld implementation of the notification regarding renaming of Government Civil Hospital to Bahawal Victoria Hospital-2 (BVH-2) for an indefinite period.

Dawn learnt from reliable sources that the notification had been put on hold by the provincial authorities to examine the issue afresh with a proposal to name the hospital after Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi of the defunct Bahawalpur state.

The hospital had been constructed during the second tenure of former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif. After its re-constitution last year, the hospital’s Board of Management had in a resolution recommended the government change its name to BVH-2, which the government accepted.

Later, during Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s visit to the city, former food minister Samiullah Chaudhry proposed the hospital be renamed after the late Nawab of Bahawalpur. The CM had assured the minister of examining the proposal.

Government Civil Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Rana Muhammad Yousaf confirmed to Dawn that the government had deferred the implementation of the notification. He was of the view that the issue could be reconsidered by the government.

SAHULAT: At least 24 Sahulat bazaars would be opened in the three districts of Bahawalpur division to provide relief to consumers.

This was stated by Commissioner Asif Iqbal Chaudhry at a meeting he chaired to review the prices of essential commodities.

He directed the assistant commissioners and market committees to take speedy measures to control the prices within their jurisdictions.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2020