LARKANA, March 7: The federal ministry of culture and tourism has sacked 14 daily-wagers working for the National Fund (NFM) for Moenjodaro project at Moenjodaro.

Sources in the department told Dawn that the terminated employees had been working for the project since 1988 and had been laid off without being paid any benefits.

The sources said that the director of archaeology department’s southern circle had asked the deputy director of NFM Mohammed Ameen Qureshi and archaeological conservator Ali Haidar Gadhee posted at Moenjodaro to relieve them immediately.

But the deputy director opposed the decision and did not relieve them, arguing in a letter to the authorities concerned that it would create problems for the project, the sources said.

Who would look after the installations, store, vehicles, pumping stations and the scheme material kept at the site after the employees had been laid off, he asked in the letter, the sources said.

He suggested making alternative arrangements for the safety of material before firing the employees, the sources said.

MEDICAL CAMP: A team of doctors at a free medical camp held in Sono Khan Chandio near Gaibidero found majority of patients suffering from hepatitis B, C, skin diseases, malnutrition and nocturnal blindness.

The team comprising Dr Farooque Rehman Soomro (skin specialist), Dr Ms Afroz Wagan and Dr Dilli Jan Mughiri (paediatrician) examined more than 600 patients in the camp held in collaboration with the National Commission for Human Development.

Medicines worth Rs117,000 donated by the philanthropists were distributed among the poor patients, said Ahmed Hussain Khwaja, district programme manager of NCHD Qambar.

Dr Farooque said that fungal infection, scabies, chest and gynaecological diseases were rampant and almost every fifth individual in the area was infected with hepatitis B and C, mainly due to lack of clean drinking water and unhygienic conditions. Nocturnal blindness in children was very common in the area, he said.