Government yet to hire 333 staff at PIMS

Summaries were sent to the finance, establishment divisions but to little avail

ISLAMABAD: Despite receiving clear instructions from the prime minister, the largest tertiary care hospital in the capital has been unable to fill 333 slots in the institution.

Around a fortnight ago, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had instructed the management service wing of the Finance Division and the Establishment division to fill the 333 vacant slots at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) including assistant professors, medical officers and registrars. The premier had directed the officials to complete the task within a week, before the government completes its tenure on May 31. However, the posts have yet to be filled.

Sources say that Prime Minister Abbasi had issued the directives in lieu of orders from the Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar.



The posts which were directed to be filled include 71 for assistant professors, 210 medical officers and 52 registrars.

Further, they said that the administration of PIMS had already dispatched a summary for these appointments to the management service wing of the finance division and establishment division for approval 10 days ago. Despite that, there has been no movement on it.

Sources further pointed out that the PIMS administration has also sent a summary to fill some 70 posts in the Cardiac Centre and the Bone Marrow Transplant Centre at the hospital to the federal public service commission (FPSC). These include 63 posts at the cardiac centre and three posts for the bone marrow centre.



However, the FPSC has yet to approve the summary.

As a result, the hospital continues to face a shortage of staff with a cumulative 1,200 posts lying vacant in the hospital. Moreover, around 90 per cent of the departments lacks heads or professors.

The crisis comes months after the government separated the hospital from its medical teaching institute, the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) in February.

That separation came after agitation by the hospital’s staff for over five years. The primary cause of that agitation had been a shortage of staff and the withdrawal of the government service structure for employees of the autonomous institution. Hospital staff had hoped that once separated, Pims will be able to fill the massive shortfall of staff. That, as they discovered, is much harder to happen than they anticipated.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2018.