QUETTA: The Balochistan government has decided to recruit male and female doctors on a contract basis in prisons.

Prisons department officials told Dawn that the province has 11 jails, out of which 10 have no doctors or medical facilities.

“Only District Jail Quetta has male and female doctors and medicines,” a senior official of the prisons department said, adding doctors were appointed in Gadani and other jails, but they were not performing duties. In some jails, paramedical staff was working as doctors, putting the health of prisoners at risk.

Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan had last week paid a visit to Mach Central Jail, where he was informed by the authorities that there were no medical facilities available for the prisoners.

The chief justice had ordered the authorities to appoint male and female doctors in jails.

Balochistan jails have been without medical facilities for a long time. According to officials, prisoners who need medical assistance are often taken to nearby hospitals due to the nonexistence of resources.

CM Bizenjo says jobs for youth ‘top priority’

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo on Tuesday said providing jobs to the young generation of Balochistan was his government’s top priority.

Presiding over a meeting of provincial secretaries here on Tuesday, the chief minister said he believed that Balochistan could be developed and put on the path of progress only by providing jobs to the youth purely on merit.

He asked the provincial secretaries to ensure implementation of government policies as making policies on different issues was the job of the government while their implementation was the responsibility of the secretaries concerned.

The meeting also reviewed the pace of work on different development projects. Secretaries of different departments briefed the meeting on the performance of their respective departments.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2023