LAHORE - There are about 16,000 doctors in the government hospitals across the Punjab to treat the 80 millions population of the province. This human resource is inadequate and doctors despite being the best brains of the society are the most underpaid professionals in the province, said spokesman of Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Punjab chapter on Sunday. PMA was of the view that the doctors should be given a pay raise but the chief minister is continuously ignoring their just demand. If doctors will not be there in hospitals, billions spent on ACs, free medicines and purchase of expensive machinery will go waste. The advisors to the chief minister are not presenting him the true picture. For provision of healthcare facilities to the 80 million population of Punjab there are 12,751 medical officers, 1,029 senior registrars, 373 professors, 419 associate professors, 584 assistant professor, 3,000 PG resident doctors, 2,000 house officers and 1,191 district specialist vacancies in Punjab health department and a reasonable number of them are lying vacant. If the government of Punjab continues to ignore doctors justified demands, then the provision of quality healthcare facilities to the public will remain a dream. PMA office-bearers Dr M Tanvir Anwar, Dr Izhar Ch, Dr Shahid Malik, Dr Ashraf Nizami, Dr Kamran Saeed and Dr Salman Kazmi have further added that the provision of ACs worth 3 billion and free medicines worth 8 billion is appreciable but the public would not be the ultimate beneficiary until qualified doctors are present in the hospitals too. PMA office-bearers have demanded of the Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif that if he really wants to ensure provision of quality care to the public, he needs to announce a special pay package for doctors on urgent basis so that the unrest in doctors community can be settled and specialist doctors are not forced to leave to country. If brain drain continues at the present pace, soon there would be a severe shortage of specialist doctors in the province. Medical team arrives in flood-hit areas A spokesman of Punjab government has said that the medical teams of Punjab government have reached the flood-hit areas of Balochistan. He said that besides extending medical assistance to more than 2,000 patients, 4,500 people and 7,000 cattle have been vaccinated in the affected areas. He said relief items including 200 tents, medicines and edibles have been sent to the flood-affected areas including Barkhan and other districts of Balochistan, while 500 bags of pulses, atta, rice and other commodities have also been distributed among the people of flood-hit areas. The spokesman further stated that Director General Relief has also reached flood-affected areas in a helicopter provided by Punjab government and 1,018 people have so far been shifted to the safer places. The spokesman said that roads from Rajanpur to Hajipur and Hajipur to Lalgarh in the flood-affected areas have been opened for traffic. He further disclosed that funds and necessary resources have also been provided to the administration of DG Khan and Rajanpur districts of Punjab, which are adjacent to Balochistan. He said army helicopter is being used for launching relief activities during the night.