Bureaucratic snags: Dozens of doctors, nurses and workers unpaid for 10 months

Bone Marrow Transplant Centre and Cardiac Centre, continue serving people

ISLAMABAD: Nearly dozens of senior doctors, nurses and technical staff of the two important institutions, Bone Marrow Transplant Centre (BMTC) and Cardiac Centre (CC) remain unpaid for the past several months due to the mismanagement and lack of attention of the Capital Adminiostration and Development Division (CADD) and Pims administration.

Since the past two years, the CADD and the hospital administration have not paid salaries to the nine senior doctors and nurses who had been performing their duties on contract basis while nearly dozens of doctors and nurses an extension in the contract and being unpaid for the past 10 months have been working at the BMTC. According to the sources, Pims administration and CADD could not comply with its orders of permanently hiring the CC employees.



The sources shared that the employees in the hope of getting a permanent employee status continue their jobs. Open heart surgeries, heart bypass, angiography, angioplasty, ECO, ETT and several other medical facilities are being offered by the employees monthly. But despite all the efforts, the CADD authorities few months back, did not only inquired about all the doctors through the FIA and declared them illegal but also made formal recommendation to dismiss all on jobs. The doctors rendering their services at the cardiac centre challenged the CADD recommendations in the Islamabad High Court, in which the stance was adopted that the hospital administration CADD authorities and the standing committee of the parliament ordering to continue with work had assured of granting permanent status. The doctors also adopted the stance that they are not being paid for their services and that they get few per cent of the amount through private operation. They said that if they were to be fired so why were they assured of continuing with jobs and the grant of permanent status. The doctors said that why the hospital management and CADD authorities took no action against them if they were illegally working at the centre. The Islamabad High Court then stopped the execution of the CADD authorities and granted working permission to the doctors.



On the other hand, it was learnt that the doctors and the staff at the BMTC had not been paid for the past 10 months. Sources shared that the CADD authorities two months back refused to give extension to the 12 member based staff working on contract basis at the Bone Marrow Transplant Centre of the Pims. CADD through formal means informed the Pims hospital administration that CAD will not give further extension in contract to the 12 employees working at the BMTCt of the Pims hospital. However, in the letter, the CADD secretary raised the question that if their contract is not extended so who will then run the BMTC. It is pertinent here to mention that the liver transplant centre located within the premises of Pims is also non-functional for the past six years and up till now, no technical staff and doctors could be hired for running it.

On being contacted, Dr Waseem Khwaja shared that doctors, nurses and technical staff working at the BMTC and CC are hired on contract basis and they run under CADD. And that they are not the Pims hospital employees. Their matter is hit with delay in CAD.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2018.