MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 4: The AJK government has asked specialist doctors serving in public sector hospitals to submit proposals to help the rural population avail itself of their services and what incentives they need to make it possible.

The offer was made by AJK Health Minister Dr Najeeb Naqi at a meeting with specialist doctors during an inspection visit to the Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) Muzaffarabad.

The minister, who himself is a medicine graduate, pointed out that the government had established hospitals even in small towns, but no specialist doctor was willing to be posted there, apparently because there would be no private practice in such areas.

Despite being equipped with modern machinery, hospitals in small towns had become merely referral centres, and their equipment was gathering dust, he said.