PESHAWAR, Oct 28: On the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the NWFP government has reinstated three leaders of Pakistan Doctors Association and Pakistan Medical Association here on Monday.

The provincial secretary health issued a notification, stating that the three doctors are reinstated in service with all back benefits with effect from May 25, 1999, the date when they were removed from the service.

The doctors are: president of PDA, Dr Liaqat Ali, senior medical officer, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar; provincial president of PMA, Dr Hussain Ahmad Haroon, medical officer, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar and former president of PDA, Syed Mohammad Kamal, medical officer KTH.

They were dismissed from the service on May 29, 1999, after they observed strike along with other doctors against the appointment of a non-doctor as secretary health and proposed privatization of government hospitals. They challenged their dismissal before the NWFP Services Tribunal, which ordered their reinstatement on April 21, 2001.

The NWFP government challenged the said verdict before the Supreme Court, which dismissed its petition on July 18, 2002. —Correspondent