LAHORE: Young Doctors Association (YDA) have demanded the Chief Minister Punjab to announce a special pay package for doctors and raise the salary of a medical officer to Rs.80000 and a senior registrar to Rs.150,000 to stop the brain drain of doctors.
The office bearers of YDA Dr. Rana Sohail, Dr. Salman Kazmi, Dr. Talha Sherwani Dr. Khalid Idrees have stated that Pakistani doctors are the least paid among all the doctors in the subcontinent.
If a special salary package wass not announced for the doctors on urgent basis, all competent and qualified consultants would leave the country and go abroad.
YDA officials further added that in India, Bhutan, Thailand and other neighboring countries a medical officer was getting 70000 Indian Rupees which were equal to 95000 Pakistani Rupees and a resident doctor in India was given free accommodation had to work from 8 to 5pm and was not allowed to do private practice.
While in Pakistan the young doctors were getting Rs 18000-22000, were forced to work for 36 to 48 hrs at a stretch and were not allowed to do private practice.
YDA officials also said that Pakistani govt. was giving Rs.30,000 per month to consultants who are being offered 28 thousand Rials equivalent to Rs 700,000 by Saudi Ministry of health and if a special pay package was not announced for doctors than an acute shortage of doctors would be faced in future in the country.
