Move to benefit 2,000 candidates: Formula for doctors’ promotion okayed | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Move to benefit 2,000 candidates: Formula for doctors’ promotion okayed

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has approved a four-tier formula for the promotion of general cadre doctors and dental surgeons.

The decision will remove grievances of more than 2,000 doctors waiting for promotions, overdue in most cases for two decades, as the service structure formula was last approved during the government of Benazir Bhutto in 1995.

The chief minister gave the approval to the formula at a meeting held in the Chief Minister`s House on Wednesday.

Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmad, Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, adviser on planning and development to the CM Kaiser Bengali, health secretary Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi, finance secretary Muhammad Siddique Memon and People`s Doctors Forum president Dr Karim Khwaja and others attended the meeting.

The chief minister directed the department that the process of promotions be followed regularly every year. He also told the meeting that the department had already intimated 1,100 posts of doctors to the Sindh Public Service Commission for recruitment.

A total of 51 posts of BS-20, 401 of BS-19, and 903 of BS-18 are lying vacant.

The jobs, according to the government health policy, would be provided to unemployed doctors and health facilities would be extended to the people particularly in remote areas, where there are no worthwhile health facilities.

The meeting was informed that the total strength of doctors in the Sindh health department was 10,923 –– 109 posts in BS-20; 1,634 in BS-19; 3,714 posts in BS-18 and 6,798 in BS-17.

According to the details provided to the meeting, at present the posts lying vacant included 51 in BS-20; 401 in BS-19, and 903 in BS-18. With the implementation of the formula, the Sindh government would have to bear a Rs76.817 million financial burden.

The meeting was also informed that 1,452 doctors who had completed 22 years in government service were working in BS-18 while 566 doctors who were still working in BS-17 had completed 18 years of service with the health department.

According to the four-tier formula, one per cent of the total sanctioned strength of doctors will be in BS-20 (109), 15 per cent in BS-19 (401); 34 per cent in BS-18 (903) while 50 per cent (5,462) will be in BS-17.

On Feb 27, 1995, the finance department notification for upgrade of general cadre doctors pointed out that 78 posts were upgraded from BS-17 to BS-19 and 2,426 from BS-17 to BS-18.

Besides, four posts of BS-17 dental surgeons were upgraded to BS-20; 64 posts of BS-17 to BS-19 and 95 posts of BS-17 to PS-18.

Since 1995, the government has created 3,327 posts of medical officers in the health department through the ADPs, SNE and regular SNEs.

Since its last structure approved in 1995, the health department has remained deprived of such benefits of upgradation of their posts while the education department had upgraded their posts at least four times after the implementation of the four-tier formula, as was pointed out in the working paper presented at the meeting.
Source: Dawn
Date:1/27/2011