LAHORE – The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) on Monday announced to launch a countrywide movement for demands of a “Special Salary Package for Doctors and Regular Service Structure with Time Scale Promotions” and a combined meeting of all doctors’ organisations working in all provinces would be called at the PMA House soon in which final decisions regarding the protest and strike of doctors would be taken.
PMA office bearers Dr Ashraf Nizami, Dr Akhtar Rashid, Dr Tanveer Anwar, Dr Izhar, Dr Shahid Malik, Dr Kamran Saeed, Dr Ehsanur Rehman, Dr Yasmin Ehsan, Dr Sababhat Habib and Dr Salman Kazmi said that two vital organisations of doctors including the Young Doctors Association and Provincial Doctors Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have already consented to be a part of the movement of doctors being launched by the PMA while all other organisations of doctors were being contacted for this purpose.
The PMA office bearers said that in the first phase of the movement, an awareness campaign would be launched by the association in the print and electronic media to highlight real problems of doctors and the public. In the second phase, joint press conferences would be held at all provinces and cities by all doctors associations regarding demands of doctors and if the government did not accept their just demands then doctors would be forced to hold protests and strikes at all the hospitals across the country.
The PMA urged the PM and four provincial CMs to announce a special salary package for doctors, raising salary of a house officer to Rs 35,000, post graduate resident/medical officer to Rs 80,000, senior registrar/DMS/district specialist/SMO to Rs 0.15 million, assistant professor/AMS/APMO to Rs 0.2 million, associate professor/MS/PMO to Rs 0.25 million and a professor to Rs 0.3 million and announce a regular service structure with time scale promotions for doctors on an urgent basis to avoid unrest in the doctors community.
