More than 1000 seats of doctors were lying vacant in Punjab and the Punjab government had failed to hire doctors on these seats despite repeated advertisements in the last 2 years, Pakistan Today learnt on Monday. “The Punjab government is unfortunately presenting wrong facts about the salaries of doctors in the media to mislead the public,” claims a Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) office bearer. “The reality is contrary to the claims made by the government,” said Dr Rana Sohail. Such misleading statements were further aggravating the situation and creating unrest in the doctors’ community. “The salary of a new graduate doctor is Rs 24000 while the stenographer of high court is getting about Rs 65000,” informed Dr Talha Sherwani. He further added that the Government of Punjab was comparing doctors with the government departments’ employees who work from 8am to 2pm while the doctors were working 24/7 the whole week and were on duties even on Sunday and national holidays. Another YDA office bearer Dr Salman Kazmi said that if the doctors were not to be in the hospitals to attend patients, all free medicines, new buildings, dialysis centers, AC and generators would go waste and the public would be deprived of the medical facilities.
