Recent events have really disturbed a lot of people in Punjab. Can the elected Chief Minister Punjab explain his stand on the issue of these underpaid qualified doctors? Why is the government discouraging the highly educated youth of Pakistan who have studied in sciences?
How do they justify paying a qualified doctor the salary of a foot constable? Is this not going to discourage these young men to seek education in medicine, engineering, nuclear sciences etc? Why this contradiction; where Chief Minister Punjab goes overboard to extend VIP protocol to students standing first in matric, O Level, intermediate etc, but paying them the salary of a foot constable when they complete their higher education?
Why special status to bureaucrats of DMG but step-motherly treatment for PCS officers? Name one country in the developed world, or in the developing world, where doctors are so underpaid and allowed to be humiliated by a bureaucrat. This policy of discouraging growth of higher education is also being followed by federal government in Islamabad, who have decided to disband the HEC.
The Punjab government which does not have funds to pay to doctors went ahead to pay Rs 0.5 million to each member of the national cricket team which lost miserably in the semi-final match.
The Chief Minister Punjab must feel the pulse of public. People appreciate the work he has done but these recent events have perturbed them.
SHAHZAD KHALIL
Sialkot
