JPMC doctors protest over three months of unpaid salaries

Doctors demand immediate payment, warning of wider protests if their outstanding salaries are not released within days

KARACHI:

Young doctors at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) staged a protest on Thursday over the non-payment of their salaries for the past three months, blaming the hospital administration and the Sindh government for the delay.

The protesting doctors gathered outside the Outpatient Department (OPD) Complex and chanted slogans against the hospital administration. They said they had continued performing their duties despite not receiving their salaries and criticised the authorities for repeatedly passing responsibility for the delay from one office to another.

“The hospital administration and the government have treated us like a football,” the protesting doctors said, adding that the hospital administration had directed them to approach the Sindh government, while government officials referred them back to the hospital administration.

The delay began after the provincial government changed the procedure for paying house officers in May, replacing the previous system under which hospitals received funds and distributed salaries through bank cheques with direct transfers into doctors’ bank accounts.

Officials said the new system required additional documentation, including copies of doctors’ CNICs and details of previous cheques, to be submitted to the Sindh Accountant General (AG) office. Hospital administrations said the relevant data had been forwarded and that the delay emanated from the AG office.

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Speaking to The Express Tribune, Sindh Young Doctors Association President Dr Shahid Awan warned that if the outstanding salaries were not released within the next few days, the doctors would broaden their protest and could stage demonstrations outside the hospital’s administration block and on roads.

“We demand the immediate payment of our outstanding salaries,” Awan said, adding that the matter should be resolved without further delay, whether it involved the Sindh government or the AG office.

The doctors also called for an increase in their salaries, claiming that they had not received a raise since 2020.

Earlier, on September 30, the Sindh Health Department had clarified that the delay was not due to administrative negligence on the part of the hospital management. It attributed the delay to the implementation of a new direct-payment policy and the procedures required to open vendor accounts at the AG office.

In a statement issued by the department, it said that under the new federal policy, house officers’ salaries were to be transferred directly into their bank accounts instead of being paid through cheques issued by hospitals.

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The department said the new system required additional documentation and data, including the opening of vendor accounts. It maintained that hospital administrations had submitted the required forms, copies of house officers’ identity cards and details of previous cheques to the AG office within the stipulated period.

However, according to the department, the process was subsequently delayed because the AG office required additional documents and data under the new payment mechanism.

The Health Department said the process of opening vendor accounts was in its final stages and that payment of the outstanding salaries of house officers was expected soon. It added that, given the financial difficulties faced by the doctors, “the matter was being treated as a priority”.

The Express Tribune tried to contact the AG office for clarity on the issue but was refused a response.