LARKANA, Nov 23: While doctors' protest against kidnapping of Dr Azhar Ali Shah and Dr Imtiaz Wagan continues, another doctor went missing along with his driver and car from Piyaro Magsi village on Tuesday.

With the kidnapping of Dr Abdul Rab Sangi, the number of doctors kidnapped in Larkana division has risen to three.

The Executive District Officer (Health), Larkana, Dr Abdul Fatah Bughio, informed police on Wednesday that Dr Sangi, the in charge of Sajjan Sangi Basic Health Unit, Larkana taluka, went missing along with his driver Wajid Ali Sangi and car late on Tuesday.

He went missing while monitoring and supervising an anti-polio campaign in union council Kothi, the EDO said, calling for recovery of the doctor.

The district health managers of Larkana have kicked off anti-polio drive after detection of two polio case cases in Qambar-Shahdadkot.

They had been administering anti-polio drops under short interval additional dose (SIAD) in 12 union councils bordering Larkana district.

The health secretary, the WHO team leader in Sukkur, and the Director General of Health, Sindh, were informed about the kidnapping, Dr Bughio said.

The kidnapping of Dr Sangi has generated a wave of insecurity among the staff engaged in anti-polio campaign in the district, said the EDO.

The second round of administering anti-polio drops under the programme is scheduled to start on Nov 28.Ali Gohar Sangi, cousin of the kidnapped doctor, told reporters that they had lost contact with him at 6pm on Tuesday as his cell phone and that of his driver went dead.

“We could not understand the nature of the incident as the kidnappers usually abandon the car and escape,” he said. Larkana SSP Mazhar Nawaz Shaikh said it was not clear whether it was a case of kidnapping for ransom or the crime had some other motive because “we don't have any evidence yet”.

PROTEST: Dr Badaruddin Junejo, president, Larkana chapter of Pakistan Medical Association, said that in order to press the government for early recovery of Dr Shah and Dr Waggan, doctors in CMCH would boycott OPD duties from 9am to 11am on Thursday.

The Vice Chancellor of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University has summoned a meeting of faculty members on Thursday to review the situation.

Our Hyderabad bureau adds: The PMA's Sindh chapter has warned that doctors will observe an indefinite strike in government hospitals throughout the province if their demands are not accepted.

The demands include arrest of murderers of Dr Ajeet Kumar, compensation of Rs 1.5 million to his heirs, and recovery of property stolen from the house of Dr Hoat Mal and setting up of Rangers pickets in government hospitals.

At a news conference at the press club here on Wednesday, the provincial general secretary of the association recalled that Dr Ajeet Kumar was murdered in Chak village on Nov 7, Dr Shah and Dr Waggan were kidnapped from Jacobabad on Nov 20 and the next day an armed robbery was committed in the house of Dr Hoat Mal in Hyderabad.

“We have been given only lollipop by the Sindh chief minister and the home minister, but the net result is zero,” Dr Ali said.

From the Newspaper