Not to be touched: Doctors enjoying ‘lifetime appointments’ at Polyclinic

ISLAMABAD:

Several medical officers have been working on various posts at Federal Government Services Hospital (Polyclinic) for more than two decades.

According to sources, dispensaries that cater to the Aiwan-e-Sadr, Prime Minister’s House, Cabinet Division and the Supreme Court, are occupied by medical officers belonging to a certain lobby who have denied other senior doctors any opportunity to work at these posts.

Polyclinic hospital has 32 dispensaries in total that provide free medicines to government employees.  The dispensaries that cater to senior government officials get higher budgetary allocations. The dispensary that caters to the Parliament House, for instance, has an annual budget of Rs100 million. Complaints that the bulk of expensive medicines goes to “important” dispensaries and only the cheaper medicines to the others are common among patients.

The doctors working at these “important” dispensaries have developed close relations with senior government employees, as well as parliamentarians, over the years, according to the sources.

They named several officials who have been working at various ‘important’ dispensaries for decades.

Polyclinic Executive Director Dr Zahid, when contacted, said doctors were performing their duties properly. He said the Parliament House dispensary needs an officer who could provide medical facilities in case of any emergency.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2014.