The provincial council meeting of Punjab General Cadre Doctor Association (GCDA) decided to start a campaign from Thursday to collect a thousand signatures, to get the service structure for doctors finalized. This would count as a referendum by the medical community, Pakistan Today has learnt. The decision was taken in a meeting held to discuss the service structure of doctors in the metropolitan.
While addressing the council meeting, GCDA President Dr Masood Akhtar Sheikh said, “A service structure is important for the doctor’s community and all efforts would be made to bring it at par with national and international standards”.
He said that the campaign would start from Lahore and spread to all districts of Punjab, this would be an opportunity to build a consensus regarding the general cadre doctors’ demand for a service structure.
Masood said, “The improved service structure would develop chances for career progression for doctors, and it is the only remedy to stop brain drain”. He pointed out that the 14,000 general cadre doctors across Punjab were the back bone of the health delivery system and without their participation, no system could function. He said that policies of the previous government were ‘detrimental’ for this cadre.
He feared that if things stayed the way they were, the health system could collapse. He said that the current government was planning positive solutions, but it needed to realize that a deadlock on promotions at the general cadre doctors’ level had to be rectified.
He said that during the last 15 years, due to the non-availability of Punjab Public Service Commission, the promotion of general cadre doctors had been unduly delayed. Many doctors had been forced to work at grade 17 for around 16-20 years, which had been frustrating for them.
Similarly, a deadlock at the level of grade 19 needed to be addressed. The provincial council had suggested to the service structure committees that the length of service would be taken as criteria for promotion, and those who had served for five years, 12 years and 16 years would be promoted to grades 18, 19 and 20 respectively.
The council meeting also suggested a few means to accomplish that. There could be an up-gradation of grade 18 officers to grade 19, till such time that a vacancy would be available to them, at that time their seat may be reverted to grade 18.
Secondly there could be a one time dispensation for the promotion of all grade 18 officers to grade 19 and finally, the formula for promotion could be made more cylindrical with more room for doctors at grades 19 and 20.
GCDA General Secretary Dr Rana Rafiq, Dr Asad Abbas Shah, Dr Asim Farooqui, Dr Arif Iftikhar, Dr Ejaz Warriach, Dr Saif Ur Rehman also spoke on the occasion, while members of the provincial councils of General Cadre Doctors Association Dr Shaukat, Dr. Aslam Hameed, Dr Farooq, Dr Shahid, Dr Amir , Dr M Arif, Dr Malik Riaz, Dr Zulfiqar, Dr Nasrullah, Dr Gulzar, Dr Abdul Rehman, Dr Naeem, Dr Adil, Dr Liaqat, Dr Ayub and representatives of different districts attended the meeting.