More than 20 paraprofessionals from Children Hospital have been making rounds of the Health Department for almost two years for the regularization of their jobs, Pakistan Today has learnt. The paraprofessionals in grade 16 and grade 17 from the Developmental Pediatrics were appointed on contract basis, with an assurance that they will be regularized over a period of time. The contractual appointments were made because the Punjab government discontinued regular appointments for years. However, the incumbent regime regularized hundreds of doctors, but the paraprofessionals remained ‘ignored’. These paraprofessionals, most of them females, include special need assistants, psychologists and other associated staff.
Talking to Pakistan Today, one of the female paraprofessionals said, “Former health secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad had assured us that we will be regularised, however, despite so many regularization of doctors, the government has ignored us, while we keep making rounds of the Health Department. Even the high ups have given us an assurance and asked us to check with the department after a month. We hope that the department is serious in giving us regular jobs.”
A senior doctor from Children Hospital said that paraprofessionals looked after children with disabilities and abnormalities. “They have to spend hours with disable children for speech and psycho therapy sessions. There are many areas within the medical profession where associated staff and not doctors are needed and serve and in this respect their role is pivotal,” he added. However, Health Special Secretary Waseem Mukhtar said the cases for regularization of paraprofessionals from Children Hospital would be dealt along with other cases of paramedics, which will be regularized in the next month. He said the initial regularization was of doctors and in the next step paramedics will also be regularised.
