PMA demands Rangers’ permanent stay in Karachi with special powers

Association also calls for trauma centers at district level across Sindh

The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has demanded special powers for the Sindh Rangers and their permanent stay in Karachi “till terrorism is eliminated”, as well as establishing trauma centers in each district of the province.

“Allowing the Sindh Rangers to stay and operate in the province after every two, three months is a derogatory and insulting attitude. Rangers have rid us of terrorism and it is our responsibility to accept their services for the elimination of terrorism,” said PMA office-bearers Prof Dr Tipu Sultan, Dr Shaukat Malik, Dr Abdul Ghaffar Shoro and Dr Farhan Essa at a news conference at the PMA House.

They called for giving incentive-based packages with hefty allowances, residence and transport facilities to doctors and paramedics serving in the interior of Sindh so that people could happily go there. They charged that doctors serving in remote areas were being given salaries lesser than that their counterparts got in major cities of the province.

PMA Karachi President Dr Shaukat Malik demanded establishing a fully-equipped trauma centre in every district with the deployment of trained doctors and paramedics so that patients with life-threatening injuries after any incident of terrorism or major accident could be treated there.

“At the moment, patients after some deadly accident are brought to Karachi’s hospitals for treatment, which is extremely insulting and injustice to the people of Sindh,” he said, adding that hospitals in the interior of Sindh were not capable of treating patients in the double digits.

He also called for launching a well-equipped ambulance service, saying most of the injured after any incident of terrorism died due to wrong handling and lack of first aid during their shifting to hospital.

Health experts said the first hour was extremely critical in saving lives and limbs after an incident of terrorism or an accident, but in the province, they were carried to hospital in a way that caused most of them to die.

“With the help of trained paramedics and proper ambulances, lives of 50 percent people can be saved, but the mortality rate is extremely high in Pakistan in such incidents due to unprofessional handling of patients,” Dr Malik added.

Prof Tipu Sultan, former president of the PMA and chairman of the Sindh Health Commission, also criticised the government for what he called “insulting” the Rangers, saying the paramilitary soldiers were the saviours of the people as they had eliminated terrorists, target killers and gangsters from the province, but ironically their services were not being recognised.

Commenting on the high number of casualties in the Sehwan explosion, he said most people who died at the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine blast were people who were not given any importance by the provincial government after the deadly incident.

He called for the upgradation of district hospitals to an extent where serious patients could be treated.

Another PMA office-bearer, Dr Farhan Essa, also lauded the services of the Rangers and other security forces of Pakistan, and claimed that the PMA was involved in meeting the health needs of families of martyred soldiers.

He lamented that the health situation in the interior of Sindh was pathetic, but the PMA could help in improving health facilities if it was taken on board over important decisions.