BAHAWALPUR: Quaid-i-Azam Medical College Principal Prof Dr Khwaja Haroon Pasha and Bahawal Victoria Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Irshad on Thursday penalised 18 doctors who have been found guilty of Friday night’s brawl.

Dr Irshad terminated the services of 10 house job doctors -- Bilal Ashraf, Irfan Qadir, Zain Sharif, Hafiz Muhammad Zeeshan, Ehsanullah, Jahanzeb, Imranul Haq, Imran Azam, Sohaib Habib and Aamir Rasool.

Dr Haroon suspended the registration (with College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan) of eight postgraduate residents -- Rao Fayyaz, Safdar Malik, Hanif Khosa, Munir Siddiqui, Aamir Majid, Zulqernain Afzal Randhawa and Nasir Wakeel.

The doctors have been punished on the recommendation of an 11-member committee, headed by Prof Dr Muhammad Yaseen, which also proposed to set up a broad-based committee which may dig deep to ascertain the causes of the clash between two groups of doctors. It also recommended that the cases of the medical officers (PPSC nominees) found guilty of violence should be sent to the Punjab health secretary. These MOs are yet to be identified by the hospital administration.

The QAMC principal constituted a new six-member committee, with Prof Dr Muhammad Yasin as its convener and Dr Anjum Sohail Ansari secretary general, to conduct a formal inquiry and submit its report and recommendations within three weeks. Other members on the committee are: Prof Maroof Aziz Khan, Prof Dr Syed Fayyaz Ahmad Shah, Prof Dr Shahid Irfan and Dr Aslam Mehmood Malik.

The boarders of Doctors’ Lodge have been asked to immediately vacate their rooms to carry out fresh process of their allotment. Dr Anjum Sohail Ansari, who has been entrusted with the task of new allotment of rooms, told this correspondent that he would complete the process within days on merit.

Meanwhile, the Cantonment police registered a case under sections 16, 353, 506, 427, 148 of PPC and section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act against Dr Sohaib Habib and seven unidentified doctors on the complaint of Dr Irshad. The medical superintendent had alleged that these doctors ransacked his office and attacked him.

District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Rashid Qamar sent six arrested doctors Rao Fayyaz Ahmad, Safdar Malik, Huzaifa, Nasir Wakeel, Imran Azam and Sohaib Habib on judicial remand. Tanveer Bajwa, Waseem Saeedi and Zulqernain were granted protective bail while Imranul Haq was granted interim bail before arrest.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2014