132 doctors transferred to remote areas in Balochistan

QUETTA: The Balochistan health department has transferred 132 doctors, including consultants, to far-flung areas and warned them that neglect will not be tolerated. An official notification in this regard would be issued in a couple of days, Health Minister Rehmat Saleh Baloch said at a press conference on Friday. He said the government had already terminated the services of 20 doctors who were found guilty of neglect. Also read: Balochistan govt regularises services of lady health workers The transferred doctors, including lady doctors, had been asked to report within a week at district hospitals in Khuzdar, Pishin, Killa Abdullah, Panjgur and Gwadar, the minister said. The aim of the exercise was to provide adequate health facilities to the people residing in the interior of the province. Turning to the issue of maternal mortality, Mr Baloch said the rate was quite high in the backward areas due to the absence of lady doctors there. The government had now transferred 21 gynaecologists to these places. He said the health ministry had requested the authorities concerned to overcome the dearth of doctors by declaring Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Mufti Mehmood and Shaheed Benazir hospitals as teaching hospitals. Plans were afoot to establish a breast cancer centre at the Sheikh Zayed hospital, he added. Health Secretary Noorul Haq Baloch told the press conference that Sheikh Zayed hospital would be made fully operational soon, as latest machines and equipment were gathering dust there and only its OPD was functioning. The government had decided to provide more funds to district hospitals so that medical facilities could be provided to people living in remote areas, he added. Published in Dawn February 14th , 2015