NAWABSHAH, July 2: Loads of cases pertaining to medico-legal, medical reimbursement, age relaxation and retirement have been heaping up as the medical board at the Nawabshah Medical College Hospital (NMCH) has been non-functional for four months due to absence of a jurisprudence/forensic medicine professor and a radiologist.

The two are integral parts of the board who decide cases pertaining to age relaxation, injuries, exhumation, medical reimbursement and retirement coming from Nawabshah, Naushahro Feroze, Dadu, Sanghar, Khairpur, Sukkur, Ghotki and several other districts. The hospital, in their absence, is referring the cases to Hyderabad and Karachi.

The job of jurisprudence professor is to ascertain causes of injuries or death and their details while radiologist is an expert of X-ray reports. The only associate professor of jurisprudence and forensic medicine in NMC, Dr Shafi Mohammad Nizamani, had gone to Malaysia for higher studies and the college had so far made no appointment as his replacement, sources in the college said.

Lack of a professor of jurisprudence and forensic medicine is on the one hand affecting studies of third year MBBS students and on the other causing the medico-legal cases to pile up. The college had two radiologists – one had gone on leave while the other had gone abroad. There was a radiologist in the NMC hospital but he could not be taken on board because he was a non-teaching radiologist, the sources said.

NMC Principal Prof Ali Akbar Ghumro said that he had written many letters to the health department requesting them to appoint professors of jurisprudence and radiologists and also informed them verbally and he was sure the posts would be filled soon.College students as well as people whose cases were pending decision due to non-functioning of medical board demanded that the health minister should promptly take notice of the problem and issue directives in this regard.