SAHIWAL, Feb 16: Farid Town police have registered a case against 29 Punjab Emergency Service (PES) and Rescue 1122 local officials for kidnapping two doctors and arrested 12 of them while the PES director-general has decided suspending three officials from service while ordering arresting five others.

The Rescue 1122 staffers brought a traffic accident victim, Mushtaq Ahmad, to the District Headquarters Hospital’s operation theatre on Friday. They had a brawl with the doctors conducting an operation over their entry into the theatre while wearing shoes.

According to doctors, entry into an operation theatre with shoes was restricted for hygienic purposes and it was normal practice that nobody, including medical staff, wearing routine shoe was allowed in.

Later, Rescue employees Aamir Farooq, Arshad Nisar, Razaq Dogar and several others allegedly picked up Dr Akhtar Mahboob and Dr Tariq Chaudhry and took them to their office at Mission Chowk where they manhandled them and detained them for quite some time.

The police and hospital employees raided the Rescue 1122 office and got the doctors released.

The Farid Town police registered FIR No 44/08 against 29 Rescue 1122 employees under sections 365, 379, 148, 149 and 186 of the Pakistan Penal Code on Friday and arrested 12 of them.

Meanwhile, the PES management has also arrested its five employees while suspending three from service. Those who were arrested by the Rescue 1122 management are Muhammad Asif, Abid Ali, Imran Masood, Aamir Farooq and Rasid Nisar.

Three employees who have been suspended from service are Tahir, Razaq Dogar and Usman Mahmood. The management also exonerated its seven employees, including Zulqarnain, Jamil Bhatti, Muhammad Afzal, Muzaffar Shah, Khalid Farooq, Iftikhar Ahmad and Zulfiqar.

Meanwhile, a protest demonstration was taken out by the doctors and paramedical staff of the DHQ hospital on Saturday against the highhandedness of the Rescue 1122 officials.

The demonstrators, led by PMA District President Dr Sarfraz Ahmad, blocked Noorshah-Faisalabad Road for an hour and demanded stern action against the kidnappers.

Staff Nurses Association Chairperson Ms Fakhrunnisa also condemned the Friday’s incident and demanded establishment of a police post at the DHQ Hospital.

The patients suffered a great deal of inconvenience due to the strike of doctors and other staffers on Saturday. No doctor visited any ward of the hospital, except the emergency. The doctors also closed down their private clinics to show solidarity with their colleagues. — Correspondent