There is no relief or privilege offered in this country to honest taxpayers and professionals.
KARACHI: One hopes that the budget for the upcoming financial year would have special provisions for doctors. The government must realise that doctors working in government or private hospitals in Pakistan are among the lowest paid in the region.
On the other hand, the starting pay for doctors in the US is $250,000 per annum while US pilots have a starting salary of $70,000 per year. In Pakistan, doctors are paid a salary that is phenomenally less than that of pilots. It is not very encouraging to note that a pilot in the Pakistan International Airlines gets a starting monthly salary of over Rs150,000 whereas a doctor at a public hospital just gets under Rs40,000 a month, even though the academic requirement of an airline pilot is intermediate while doctors have a stronger academic background.
This disparity reflects sheer injustice. There is no relief or privilege offered in this country to honest taxpayers and professionals. Indeed, none is expected of the government in the coming financial year either.
Rahat Siddiqi
Published in The Express Tribune, June 3rd, 2014.
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