Rs110m released for healthcare staff in NMDs

Rs50.6m will be paid to 140 doctors, Rs40.91m to paramedics

PESHAWAR:

The caretaker Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has released Rs110 million for the payment of doctors and paramedical staff’s salaries in the newly merged tribal districts of the province.

The release of funds would ensure the payment of salaries to the health care staff in these districts within a week.

Official sources told The Express Tribune that Rs50.60 million had been released for the salaries of 140 doctors posted in erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Rs40.91 million for 460 paramedics.

In May this year, the K-P Health Department requested the finance department to immediately release Rs1.18 billion to enable it to pay the salaries of trainee doctors on time.

In this regard, a letter was sent to the finance department.

The finance department was asked to release Rs1.18 billion for the Post Graduate Medical Institute Hayatabad so that the institute’s dues were cleared and the salaries of the trainee doctors paid on time.

The trainee medical officers (TMOs) recently went on a four-day strike across the province creating a lot of problems for the patients. Later, the salary was released and the protest ended.

The Provincial Doctors Association demanded of the provincial government to allocate a yearly budget for the TMOs who worked diligently on minimum wages, including performing night duty, in order to avoid recurrence of the delay in the payment of salaries.

The PDA also demanded an increase in the monthly stipend, taking into account the current inflation level, and suggested release of stipend in the first week of every month.

Earlier, the TMOs across K-P announced closure of elective services in all provincial hospitals against the non-payment of salaries.

They boycotted all services in out-patient departments (OPDs) and operation theatres.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2023.