K-P govt hospitals lose key radiologist

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's only interventional radiologist employed at a government hospital has resigned from Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), citing unfavorable policies and inadequate incentives under the Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) framework, the latest blow to a public healthcare system already hemorrhaging specialized talent.

Interventional radiology, a rare and critically important specialty, involves life-saving image-guided procedures including internal organ biopsies, safe drainage of abscesses or fluids, percutaneous kidney drainage for obstructions, and endoluminal stenting of blocked arteries. These specialists also perform emergency angio-embolization of bleeding vessels at centers where procedures like PCNL (kidney surgery) take place. Unlike general surgeons, they spare patients from major operations through minimally invasive, image-guided techniques.

According to sources, there is now not a single interventional radiologist employed at any government hospital across K-P. While private institutions such as RMI and Kuwait Teaching Hospital do have such specialists, impoverished patients cannot afford private fees.

Dr Wasif, a highly trained interventional radiologist at HMC, tendered his resignation from a major MTI hospital due to unfavorable working conditions and the denial of a share in Institutional Based Practice (IBP) revenue, a benefit that remains inaccessible despite being part of the policy framework.

Senior doctors have expressed grave concern over the situation, stating that rather than improving service delivery at public hospitals, the government is forcing skilled professionals out through MTI policies. Sources revealed that Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar has similarly witnessed an exodus of multiple foreign-trained doctors in recent years due to inadequate medical facilities, funding shortages, and systemic issues.

Despite years of MTI legislation, no uniform policy has been introduced for these institutions, sources added. Private boards of these hospitals continue implementing administrative orders arbitrarily, leaving longstanding management issues unresolved.

A stark disparity in salary structures has also been noted across MTI hospitals. While hospital managers draw salaries exceeding Rs800,000 monthly, highly specialized consultants receive barely one-third of that amount. Compounding the problem, consultants are excluded from Self-Support Programs, Health Card revenues, and IBP earnings. Furthermore, hospitals are now deducting 40 per cent from surgeons' fees. Doctors are required to practice institutionally rather than in private clinics, yet no adequate arrangements have been made to facilitate such institutional practice.

The crisis at HMC is not confined to radiology. Last month, 19 doctors with extensive experience in renal transplantation, nephrology, and andrology were sent back to the Institute of Kidney Diseases (IKD) from the kidney center on the basis of their civil servant status. Consequently, IKD now faces a severe consultant shortage, with emergency services largely managed by trainee medical officers and TMOs, leading to postponed surgeries and delayed patient care.

Similarly, two senior renal transplant surgeons with over a decade of experience each have reportedly been pressured to choose between urology and transplant surgery without clear policies regarding salary, case sharing, or incentives. These doctors were part of the team that performed K-P's first deceased-donor renal transplant. Senior doctors have termed this move as tantamount to weakening the transplant program by forcing founders to depart.