Assistant Commissioner Sahiwal breaks into female doctors’ hostel to arrange ushers for VVIP visit

Assistant Commissioner of the Sahiwal division, Ayub Bukhari, barged into the girl’s hostel of the DHQ teaching hospital Sahiwal to try and force doctors to act as ushers for a VVIP visit to a coal field power project in Qadarabd.

In a complaint letter signed by the Female house officers and Dr Ghazanfar Bukhari addressed to the principal of the Sahiwal Medical College, the complainants have claimed that AC Ayub Bukhari along with DMS DR Akhtar Raza entered the girls hostel at around 20 30 on July 1.The docotrs alleged this was “lawful rules and regulations of medical ethics.”

The indignant letter said that the two officers after entering the premises ordered the doctors to proceed tomorrow to Qadarabad to perform their duties as ushers for the VVIP’s visit. The letter goes on to state that DMS Dr Raza and AC Bukhari did not approach any HODs prior to their entry and “went against the norms and customs of service and (in) this country, forcefully entering into girls’ rooms wihtout prior permission.

A notification from the Assistant Commissioner’s office dated for the day after the alleged hostel invasion was issued in which 12 female doctors were called up to perform duties as ushers for the earlier mentioned VVIP visit to the power project in Qadarabad. The notification came only a day after the AC stormed the female hostels to personally order the students to go act as ushers.

It also raises questions over why exactly doctors are expected to do these needless duties normally reserved for young school children, when there is already a grave shortage of available medical professionals, especially in areas such as Sahiwal. And while it could be argued that the ladies called up for the task were only house officers and technically still students, the matter is a huge mismanagement of priorities. While their education may not be complete, calling in qualified doctors to spend their time ushering for VVIP’s, that already have sizable entourages to tell them where to walk, is a waste of precious human resources.

So not only has the Assistant Commissioner made the decision to use female doctors to collect a crowd for the VVIP visiting the power project, he has also used a needlessly heavy handed approach by entering and ordering hostels to direct them to fulfill his wishes, something the doctors have protested vehemently against. This was expressed in a letter of complaint penned by one of the physicians in which she explains how three men entered her room explicitly against her wishes. They then took seated her where the Assistant Commissioner was after they had rounded up all the house officers they could find and telling them that they would, with the permission of the principal, be taken to Qadarabad to act as ushers for the inauguration of a coal power project where a VVIP was due to visit.

It was also alleged by the complainant that not only did the AC come off in an angry and intimidating manner, but he also encroached upon to the personal property of the residents as he wished.

When asked to comment, the Assistant commissioner rebuffed our attempts at clarification choosing to hand the phone to a secretary and pleading prior occupation.