JACOBABAD, Aug 26 2005: Three persons, including one woman, were killed on the pretext of karo-kari in the Ali Mohammad Khoso village, in the jurisdiction of Tangwani police station, Kashmore district, on August 24.
Source: Dawn
Date:8/26/2005
PMA demands arrest of people harassing lady doctors at Sobhraj hospital
M. Waqar Bhatti
Karachi: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Karachi has demanded of the government to immediately arrest and punish the culprits who attacked and manhandled lady doctors at Sobhraj Maternity Hospital (SMH) a few days back, saying until then, no routine work, except emergency services would be carried out at the hospital.
The PMA strongly condemned the attack on female doctors at SMH on Sunday last by the attendants of the patient and termed it as an intolerable incident that has gone unnoticed and unpunished so far.
Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Thursday, PMA Karachi President Dr Idrees Adhi and Dr Samrina Hashmi said that a pregnant woman in her 7th month came over with a cord prolapse at SMH a couple of days back and delivered a dead baby.
“After the burial of the body, the relatives of the lady came back, barged into the female doctors’ duty rooms and manhandled the lady doctors on duty. They beat them and used abusive language. They also tried to abduct the doctors”, PMA office-bearers informed and termed it as an intolerable attitude.
“PMA never let the out-patient departments (OPDs) & Casualties to close down as we have always asked doctors to attend the wards and emergency and not to go on strikes”, they said but added that the situation is out of control now as all the doctors irrespective of being male or female are being attacked and brutally beaten up by unscrupulous elements.
During the last few months, the relatives of the patients have barged into the premises of several hospitals in the city, broken the equipment and manhandled the doctors, which is evident enough to highlight the security issues facing the health professionals, they maintained.
According to PMA office-bearers, several young doctors had head injuries and arm fractures during incidents of violence against them, but they never shutdown the hospital.
“We also wish to bring to the media’s notice that Dr Zafar Farooqi, a family physician working for the last 23 years, who is receiving threatening calls demanding money. Despite PMA’s contacts the authorities are not responding”, they charged.
PMA had also given a document in the form of a “Health Commission Bill” to the chief minister a year ago, copy of which was also given to all Sindh MPAs for perusal and implementations, they said but deplored that so far no progress had been seen in this regard too.
“This document encompasses rights of the patients, registration of hospitals, clinics, X-rays and laboratories. It also has the process of complaint of aggrieved party”, they informed and added that the PMA has also proposed formulation of an independent commission which will investigate the entire matter of alleged malpractice and negligence.
“We demanded that doctors should be considered as essential servicemen and whoever manhandles them and attacks the hospital, should be imprisoned for two years and fined at least Rs500,000”, they demanded.
PMA office-bearers, on the occasion, demanded from the government to put behind bars and impose fine on the culprits who attacked the lady doctors at SMH within the next 10 days and added till then, the Sobhraj hospital will only open their emergency services and no routine work will be carried out.
They further demanded from the provincial government to present a proposed health commission bill in the Sindh assembly at the earliest and should be made a law and adding asked the government to take stern steps to protect Dr Zafar Farooqi who is receiving life threatening calls demanding ransom.
Source: The News
Date:8/26/2011
Bombs destroy girls’ school in Swabi
SWABI: Suspected militants blew up a government school for girls in Razaar tehsil of the district here on Thursday, police said.
They said that militants planted two explosive devices at Government Primary School Khalil for Girls, located in the densely populated area of tehsil Bazaar. The devices went off at 2:30am, destroying four classrooms and boundary wall of the school, they said.
The residents of the area said that they heard huge blasts when they woke up for Sehri. The blasts were so powerful that they were heard in far away areas, they said.
“All the four classrooms of the school can no longer be used by the students. The school will open soon after Eidul Fitr. We will make temporary arrangements for the students,” said an official of education department.
In Peshawar, a blast caused damages to the building of district and sessions court at Sher Shah Suri Road near central jail on Thursday morning.
An official of East Cantonment police station said that the blast took place at 5:15am and damaged walls of two rooms, computer, telephone and television sets in the court offices.
He said that the blast occurred early in the morning when the offices were closed so it caused no loss of life. The officials of Bomb Disposal Unit said that they had thoroughly checked the area but could not get any proof of use of explosive material in the blast.
“I think the blast took place due to gas filled inside a sewerage line along the railways track,” said an official.
In Charsadda, an electricity tower was partially damaged in a blast at Pakistan Korona area on early Thursday morning.
Police said that unidentified persons planted explosives with the tower that went off early on Thursday morning. However, the blast didn`t affect power supply.
Source: Dawn
Date:8/26/2011
Women`s crisis centres
THE small matter of who should run a few women`s crisis centres has created a larger problem that can easily be resolved. Reports say Punjab is reluctant to take charge of the 12 centres that have been devolved to the province under the 18th Amendment. Sources in the Punjab government say the province finds it difficult to justify these centres when it is running a number of shelters for women in need under the banner of the Darul Aman. These homes are meant for women caught in all kinds of legal battles who are admitted to them on court orders. They have frequently been reported on in the media, and it has to be said that much of the coverage has been negative. The Darul Amans, or `houses of peace`, have routinely been found to be overcrowded and mismanaged, apparently creating a need for more shelters. The women`s crisis centres, which can let in applicants without court orders, are helpful in filling the void. It makes no sense for anyone to declare that any facilities that offer refuge to women are surplus to the requirement here.
This is one aspect at the core of the issue. Another dimension that has invited strong criticism is that this matter of crisis centres reflects the general attitudes of governments in Pakistan towards solving `women`s issues`. If the thread of the current debate is anything to go by, the current rulers of Punjab enjoy not so flattering a reputation when it comes to tackling what in common parlance and without much thought are described as women-specific matters. There is no reason why the Shahbaz Sharif government should not want to dispel this impression by granting to women centres that give them protection in their hour of crisis.
Source: Dawn
Date:8/26/2011