KP medical teachers’ body slams `Reforms Act’

MN Report

PESHAWAR - Voicing concern over some regulations introduced in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical Teaching Institution Reforms Act, the Khyber Medical College Teaching Staff Association (KMCTSA) has urged the provincial government to address their reservations or evolve a strategy for doing away with the services of doctors in a dignified manner.

Speaking at a general body meeting of KMCTSA held at Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), doctors said the government had made a commitment with them that the existing hospital employees would be allowed to work under the existing terms and conditions.

However, in the rules, they complained that the government did not honour its commitment and was now asking doctors to work under the new terms and conditions.

Speaking on the occasion, KMCTSA’s general secretary Dr Amer Azhar, who is an associate professor at the KTH’s nephrology department, said the changes brought by the government in rules for selection and promotion were not acceptable to the medical community.

Secondly, he argued that since PMDC is a supreme body that governs all the hospitals, the government should handle selection and promotion of doctors in the light of PMDC’s criterion.

He also asked the government to devise a strategy for an honourable exit of the doctors. “If the government doesn’t want to see our faces in the hospital, it should then evolve a strategy for pension with full benefits and golden handshake of the hospital employees,” Dr Azhar said while quoting a unanimous decision of the doctors.

The doctors also regretted that before holding their meeting they tried their best to get an appointment with provincial health secretary for discussing these issues, but he avoided meeting with representatives of the doctors.