Doctors’ kidnapping: Two suspects caught in raid but doctors still missing

Two of them were kidnapped on November 20 from Jacobabad.

SUKKUR:

The police raided katcha areas in Jacobabad and Shikarpur and arrested two men on Friday night on suspicion of being involved in the kidnapping of two doctors on November 20 from Jacobabad. 

Dr Imtiaz Wagan of Dow University of Health Sciences Karachi and Dr Azhar Ali Shah of Ghulam Mohammad Mahar Medical College Sukkur were abducted near the vegetable market in Jacobabad.

Abdul Khaliq Marfani and Khadim Marfani were caught after an hour-long encounter with the Mouladad police.

Khadim was injured during the gunfight and was taken to the jail ward of Civil hospital. Their weapons were seized. Ten days ago another doctor, Abdul Rab Sangi, was abducted with his driver, Wajid Ali Sangi, from near Larkana.

Since the kidnappings, doctors and paramedics throughout Sindh have been protesting for their rescue but the police still don’t know where they are.

The doctors, especially those who go far-flung areas, are scared to travel for work now.

Earlier, around 20 specialists from Karachi, Hyderabad and Larkana used to visit cities in upper Sindh on the weekend, according to the joint secretary of the Pakistan Medical Association in Sindh.

Since the kidnappings, the doctors have stopped coming because they are scared.

The weekly clinics were beneficial for the people who couldn’t travel to larger cities like Hyderabad and Karachi for treatment.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2011.

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�o���� to Thebo, additional barracks and jails are under construction and within a year over crowding would not be a problem.

 

Aburabi was not at liberty to divulge details on the state on the prisons he had visited, both internationally as well as in Pakistan. “We write down what we see in our reports,” he said. “They are sent directly to the relevant authorities. However, the whole process remains confidential.” The ICRC must be seen as unbiased.

But there were some generic problems he was willing to shed light on. He said that most problems were common for detention doctors across the globe. For example, most doctors do not have any formal training on how to deal with certain scenarios ,ie, hunger strikes. “Many doctors need an opportunity to upgrade their knowledge with regards to their situation and discuss issues with others to find a solution,” Aburabi stressed. “They [detention doctors] are often forgotten and do not end up getting invited to most seminars and conferences. It is important to expose them to international practices and ideas.”

According to Aburabi, the coordination between the department of prisons and health was another major issue. “When a detainee needs to be hospitalised or requires psychiatric treatment, they are shifted to public hospitals,” he said. “But the health department has no direct link with prison affairs and therein lies another issue.”  In Sindh, doctors are deputed from the health department to prisons. While the prisons department has 40 vacancies for doctors, Thebo believes that the current set-up is perhaps better as it is decentralising the power of prison officials.  “Once doctors become part and parcel of the prison set-up they will lose their human touch,” said Thebo. “They will also begin to feel and behave like the security personnel. I feel that doctors from the health department will pay more attention to human rights.” Thebo agrees with Aburabi and said that doctors at detention centres need to be trained in order to deal with different situations and patients.

After the lengthy discussion at the seminars, Aburabi and his team made a list of suggestions and concerns shared by the authorities. This list will be processed and the ICRC will identify areas where they can offer assistance or propose solutions.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2011.