Service structure: Doctors and government sign half a deal

Govt agrees to hire as many house officers as graduating students each year.

LAHORE:

Representatives of the Punjab government and doctors’ organisations have signed a document stipulating agreement on certain matters as part of the negotiations for a new service structure for doctors, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Representatives of the Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab, the Medical Teachers Association (MTA), the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and the Health Department signed a 42-point agreement, so that neither side could back down from those positions at future negotiations. Both sides claimed to have pushed for the agreement because the other side kept changing their stance.

The doctors’ associations and the government have been in talks since July, when the Lahore High Court directed the YDA to end its strike at public hospitals and negotiate with the government for a new service structure for doctors employed by the Health Department.

The signed document, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, states that the parties have agreed to increase the number of house officers to the total number of medical students graduating every year from public medical colleges. The parties also agreed that the take-home salary of a post graduate resident in the first year of training would be 90 per cent of a medical officer’s salary in grade 17 in the first year of service. Similarly, a second-year resident would get wages equal to 90 per cent of a medical officer’s salary in his second year, and so on.

The agreement also specifies that there are 205 vacancies for senior registrars in the province, and over 100 vacancies for specialists. The two sides had previously claimed different figures for this. The agreement does not state whether these vacancies will be filled.

Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) President Dr Tanveer Anwar said that the two sides had reached agreement on 42 points. He said these were issues on which the two parties had been unable to reach a consensus earlier. He said the next meeting would be held at the Health Department on Monday

YDA Punjab General Council member Dr Mudassir Razzaq Khan said that the doctors had asked the government to sign the agreement. A senior official at the Health Department, however, said that the department had asked the doctors to sign the document.

Dr Khan said that there were still several important issues on which the two sides were far apart. He said that a final agreement would have to be okayed by the YDA General Council.

A meeting of the council in Multan was due to start on Saturday night. “Important decisions regarding the YDA’s strategy will be taken in the meeting,” said Dr Javaid Aheer, president of YDA Jinnah Hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2012.