Struggling employees: Health workers demand permanent jobs

475 medical officers have been working on contract for seven years.

PESHAWAR:

The staffers of the People Primary Health Initiative have demanded the government give them permanent jobs as they have been working for seven years on contract.

There are around 475 doctors working in the programme yet they have not been given permanent jobs. The lady health workers who were trained by the PPHI officers have, on the other hand, been given permanent jobs, said PPHI President Dr Muhammad Naeem, at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club, on Thursday.

All of the PPHI workers are qualified and registered with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. Most of them work in different basic health units across the province. The doctors were recruited through legal procedures and proper interviews were held while the job posts were advertised in national newspapers, he said.

The doctors at the conference said that the medical officers of the programme have worked in all health-related campaigns, including the polio immunization campaign, TB control programme and measles campaign.

Dr Naeem said that the Punjab government has made their PPHI staff permanent but K-P’s is still struggling with these demands. He demanded the chief minister and health minister help them with the matter.

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