Filling posts: 152 doctors awarded one-year contract

Employment term extended for 214 other doctors.

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) health department has notified the appointment of at least 152 doctors on one-year contracts in public sector hospitals across the province. The move is part of the government’s effort to fill vacant posts.

The notification also announced extending the contracts of 214 doctors by one year, following the Peshawar High Court’s decision on the matter on October 29.

Talking to The Express Tribune, K-P Department of Health Special Secretary Akbar Khan said due to long leaves and deputations of doctors, several posts in districts hospitals have been lying vacant for several years. With this notification, doctors have been appointed in government hospitals of every district in K-P, he added.



Akbar said the appointment will be on a contractual basis for a period of one year, till the arrival of incumbents from deputation or long leave. He added employees’ absence from duty for even a single day will be considered as misconduct and a violation of the agreement.

The health department issued a notification on October 21, wherein disciplinary proceedings were initiated against 81 doctors and a pharmacist who had been absent from duty in various government hospitals for several years.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2013.