At last: Service structure for doctors, nurses in annual budget

Minister says no pharmaceutical company reps to be allowed to visit govt doctors on duty.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Minister for Health Shaukat Yousafzai has ordered to include a service structure for doctors in the upcoming annual budget, read a statement issued from the Directorate of Information  on Monday.

A committee has also been constituted under the special secretary of health for the service structure of paramedics and nursing staff. The committee comprises three members each from the paramedics and nursing staff while representatives from finance, establishment and administration departments will also be included.

The statement further read that the first insulin bank of the province will be inaugurated on March 19 followed by K-P’s own hepatitis centre in April, and a burns centre in May. The insulin bank will provide free dialysis to diabetic patients from the province.

In the handout, the minister clearly mentioned that autonomy will be given to all district headquarters hospitals and no pharmaceutical company will be allowed to approach government doctors while they are on duty.

Long-standing demand

Nurses of three major hospitals in Peshawar boycotted duties briefly on March 15. Under the banner of the Nursing Association of Peshawar, they stopped work for an hour at Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex in protest and gave the provincial government a two-week deadline to fulfil their demands which included a service structure.

On March 2, the Young Doctors Association (YDA) boycotted duties at outpatient departments of all major public hospitals, threatening to continue the strike if the government did not include their service structure in the next annual budget.

Ad hoc doctors and paramedics have held various protests against the health department for regularisation of their services issues which the minister had promised to resolve.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2014.