27 posts lying vacant in Polyclinic, PIMS

Officials say govt hiring doctors on year-long contracts instead of promoting senior doctors.

ISLAMABAD:

A total of 27 posts of doctors are lying vacant and 10 doctors are awaiting promotions in two top government hospitals in the capital – the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and the Federal Government Service Hospital (Polyclinic).

Nazar Muhammad Gondal, federal minister of the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development (MoC&D) stated this in response to a question raised by Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party senator Nasreen Jalil about vacant posts of doctors in the two hospitals during a session of the Senate on Saturday.

Gondal informed that 19 posts of BS-20 doctors are lying vacant in Pims, including those of anaesthetic, dental surgeon, pathologist, gastroenterologist, general practitioner, urologist, gynaecologist, paediatrician, cardiac anaesthetic, consultant anaesthetic, consultant hepatobiliary and liver transplant surgeon, and consultant hepatalogist.

He maintained that eight posts of doctors are vacant in Polyclinic, include that of the executive director, joint executive director, consultant dental surgeon, consultant thoracic surgeon, consultant cardiologist, consultant anaesthetic and consultant radiologist.

Meanwhile, officials of Polyclinic hospital talking to The Express Tribune claimed that the government is depriving senior doctors of their right to promotions by offering contractual appointments to facilitate its “blue-eyed people”. They maintained that the 44 doctors’ posts the government advertised on one-year contracts were done for this reason alone.

A senior official of the hospital said that two BS-18 posts of associate physicians in the cardiology department were advertised even when a senior doctor, Dr Yasmin, was available. The official said that Dr Yasmin is a competent doctor and met all criteria but was posted at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) dispensary in order to hire the two physicians.

Gondal informed that 10 senior doctors of Pims are awaiting promotions to BS-21 grade, adding that their cases are under process for the past year. The officials are: Dr Iftikhar Ahmed, consultant radiology; Dr Mehmood Jamal, professor of neonatology; Dr Syed Aslam, professor of general surgery; Dr Zaheer Abbasi and Dr Nadeem Ahmed, professors of paediatric surgery; Dr Muhammad Tariq, professor of neurology; Dr Farooq Afzal, professor of ophthalmology; Dr Iqbal Memon, professor of anaesthesia, Dr Altaf Hussain, joint executive director and Syeda Batool Mazhar, professor of gynaecology.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2013.