Research suspended: Medical team asked to leave Thar

The team was conducting a survey of the affected villages to ascertain the cause of deaths among children

HYDERABAD/ MITHI: When it comes to Tharparkar, the cause for the never-ending spiral of child mortality may never be discovered. Someone does not want that secret out, it seems; someone who has a lot of clout and enough resources to keep it a secret but sadly lacks the will to address the issues.

A team of doctors from the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) that had gone to Tharparkar to conduct a survey was suddenly asked to leave the district on Thursday.



The team, comprising 70 doctors and 130 postgraduate, MBBS and dental students, had arrived in Tharparkar on Wednesday on a four-day visit. LUMHS vice-chancellor Dr Noshad Shaikh, who led the team, had told The Express Tribune they will set up medical camps and conduct research in all six tehsils of Tharparkar. Each tehsil was supposed to have a separate team. The teams were supposed to visit the most affected villages in each tehsil and compile their research.

On Thursday morning, when the teams had already left for the fieldwork, Shaikh received a call from a government functionary while he was at a camp in Chachro tehsil. He was reportedly asked to leave Tharparkar by the evening with his team.

“He was sitting close to me when he got the call. Suddenly he stood up and left,” a senior LUMHS official, who requested not to be named, told The Express Tribune. According to the official, the vice-chancellor did not explain why they were abandoning the project.

Dr Anila Attaur Rehman, the dean of the faculty of community medicine, also confirmed that the doctors were directed to leave Tharparkar. Even she did not now know what had made the provincial government expel them. “We still don’t know why we were not allowed to stay in Tharparkar,” she exclaimed.

However, a LUMHS official told The Express Tribune that the provincial government had taken exception to the VC’s statement in which he had acknowledged the facts of prevalent malnutrition and lack of health facilities in Tharparkar. The source also claimed that the VC had been called to the chief minister house for a meeting on Thursday night.

Tharparkar’s deputy commissioner Asif Jameel said he was unaware about any official directives for the team to leave. The district police also denied that they had asked the doctors to leave.

“We were with the team, providing them security. We don’t know why they suddenly left,” said SP Aashiq Ali Bozdar. Around 550 children have reportedly died in the drought hit Tharparkar this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2014.