Negotiation: Deadlock between govt, doctors over MTI law comes to an end

Unanimous agreement to be devised to withdraw petitions

PESHAWAR: The deadlock between the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government and medical practitioners over the Medical Teaching Institutes (MTI) Reforms Act 2015 has ended.

This was stated in a handout issued by CM Secretariat on Thursday. According to the document, the government and doctors agreed to accommodate each other’s demands during a meeting held at the secretariat which was chaired by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak. The decision has been taken in a bid to facilitate patients who have been inconvenienced by the deadlock.

During the discussion, doctors and government officials agreed to mutually develop broad parameters to resolve these issues.

“The CM urged doctors to cooperate with the government to make the 2015 legislation a success,” stated the handout. “The MTI Reforms Act was enacted to account for the larger interests of the people of the province, especially those who belong to underprivileged backgrounds.”

Khattak said the government was ready to take steps to address the demands and grievances of doctors. “These includes concerns over service protection amendments in the legislation and an increase in salaries of trainee medical officers (TMO),” the handout quoted Khattak as saying.

Check list

A series of demands were discussed during the meeting.

“Amendments to the 2015 legislation regarding terms and conditions of services, governance of medical institutions, and registration of graduates under the rules of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council instead of Higher Education Commission were among the concerns raised,” stated the document.

It was agreed medical practitioners at MTIs would work from 8am to 3pm for six days a week. The chief minister directed authorities to chalk out an acceptable payment schedule for this purpose.

Unanimous agreement

According to the document, medical practitioners have decided they will discontinue protests against these reforms. Furthermore, they will convince other doctors to withdraw their cases and cooperate with the government.

“However, the chief minister said a unanimous agreement should be devised between the government and doctors associations to automatically withdraw these petitions,” stated the document.

Khattak has assigned the health minister and secretary to draft the agreement in consultation with doctors.

“The agreement will be finalised by the end of the day,” the handout quoted him as saying.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th,  2015.