In a warning to protesting doctors’ associations, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Health Minister Zahir Ali Shah on Tuesday announced the KP government would use tit-for-tat tactics against protesting medical professionals. Avoiding commenting on whether medical professionals will be brought under ‘essential services’, Zahid said the KP government had used a policy of compromise but the time had come to deal with doctors with an iron-hand. He said in an already difficult situation in KP, doctors had added to the troubles of poor patients and after their salary hikes Rs 1.3 billion was pent on doctors’ salaries from the government exchequer.The KP health minister was briefing media at the Peshawar provincial health directorate, with the Director General Health Services Muhammad Sharif, Secretary Health Munir Azam, Lady Health Workers (LHW) Provincial Coordinator Dr Ihsan Turabi about the LHW protests against five months of unpaid salaries.
He said the KP government is planning to restructure the health department through which overlapping programs will be avoided and financials will be streamlined. He said the KP government had arranged Rs 360 million through bridge financing to give LHWs salaries before Eid-ul-Adha. He said the provincial health department was also responsible for the delay. He said he had assured LHWs to resolve their issues through mid-shift arrangements and the amount had been taken as a loan from the KP government. He said workers suspended during the protests would be reinstated since the crisis was not their fault.
Speaking on doctors on deputation, he said the same law applied to them and no extensions would be given after return from deputation. He said, “Either a person will have to leave his service or join it again after returning from deputation.” He said officials concerned had been directed to evolve a service structure for nurses, like that of doctors and paramedics, so promotions do not remain a problem.
He said the deficiency of doctors in periphery hospitals was an issue which was addressed through appointing 500 new doctors on adhoc basis and 250 additional doctors will be available soon. He said the doctors assigned to remote stations will be non-transferable.
He said the process to induct 300 more nurses had begun and the public service commission had been contacted. He said after 2015 only graduate nurses will be inducted and a B.Sc courses for nurses had been started. He said, “We were deficient in Master Nurses. The government allocated Rs700 million for the masters program for nurses as a four-year course available in four medical institutions. He said about 150 candidates will be selected each year for the four-year Master Nurses program.
