LARKANA: Owners of private medical facilities along with doctors running their clinics in Larkana staged a protest over issuance of notices to them by the FBR asking them to pay a fine of Rs1 million each.
The notices pertained to their “failure to implement a mandated income and expenditure accounting system”.
The protesters refused to pay the fine and took to the street on Saturday.
As a mark of protest, they hoisted black flags over their workplaces. They wore black armbands during the protest.
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Local office-bearers of the Pakistan Medical Association and the Paramedical Staff Association joined in the protest.
They reached the local press club after passing through various streets and staged a demonstration. Later, they held a press conference where Dr Khursheed Ahmed Abbasi, the President of the Private Medical Centres Association, along with its General Secretary Dr Abdul Kareem Sheikh; Sindh PMA President-elect Dr Dayali Gul, Dr Farooq Sheikh, Larkana PMA President-elect Dr Sikandar Ali Mughal, Dr Sher Mohammad Sheikh and others spoke to journalists.
They said that the doctor community in Larkana, and across the country, pays the highest amount of tax. Dr Khursheed Abbasi said they serve the ailing humanity, yet the FBR office in Sukkur had for some time been harassing doctors and private medical centres’ owners in Larkana without any justification.
He said that a year ago, this office had issued a letter to private medical centres and clinic-running doctors directing them to implement a profit-and-loss statement system (an accounting mechanism for income and expenditure). Following that, doctors held meetings with the FBR Sukkur Commissioner and other officials to discuss the matter.
A full year passed with no further contact from FBR officials on the issue. But 10 days ago, individual notices were suddenly sent to private medical centres’ owners and clinic-running doctors in Larkana asking them to pay a fine of Rs1 million each.
Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2026
