K-P: More than 500 doctors regularised

K-P assembly passes bill to this effect

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly on Tuesday passed the Regularisation of Contractual and Ad Hoc Doctors Bill 2015. The move paved the way for the regularisation of about 533 doctors.

An official handout said the doctors were appointed between 2011 and 2013. Among those whose services were regularised were 503 medical officers and 30 dental surgeons of Grade-17.

Minister for Health Shahram Khan Tarakai presented the bill before the house and it was adopted unanimously by lawmakers with some amendments.

The bill was introduced in the K-P Assembly on February 20. The law read “that all medical officers who were holding the post till the commencement of this act shall be deemed to have been validly appointed to the posts on a regular basis.”

Media boycott

Separately, journalists boycotted K-P Assembly proceedings as a show of protest against the manhandling of a TV journalist during the Senate polls on March 5.

The bureau chief of a new channel, Farzana Ali was reportedly pushed by assembly security staff on the day. Senior members of the Peshawar Press Club, Khyber Union of Journalists and members of the press gallery protested outside the K-P Assembly. They chanted slogans against the manhandling of the woman reporter.

Later, they boycotted the proceedings, demanding action against those responsible for the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2015.