May 27, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24,1424

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PESHAWAR, May 26: The College of Physicians and Surgeons, Pakistan, has de-recognized four wards of two city hospitals, health officials told Dawn here on Monday.

The four wards de-recognized by the CPSP are: Paeds Surgery ward, Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), Neurosurgery, Neurology and Orthopaedic wards at Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) for lack of consultants/supervisors and trainee medical officers (TMOs), said the officials.

The directives to this effect were issued in mid-April, said the officials, adding that the decision of the CPSP has been prompted by the resignations of the senior consultants, who headed these wards.

About 60 senior consultants resigned against the introduction of the institution-based practice (IBP) at the public sector’s hospitals in March last year. The resignation of senior doctors from their government jobs dealt a serious blow to the medical education as well as the health-care system at the hospitals.

According to the officials, these wards still existed, but there would be no training facilities for the medical graduates, intending to appear in the postgraduate examinations. The CPSP’s criteria for recognition of the ward is the availability of professors, associate professors and assistant professors, who are required to train the medical graduates for the postgraduate examinations.

The de-recognition of these wards have badly hit the junior doctors, because they would not be able to do specialization in these wards.

Officials also said that efforts were afoot to transfer doctors from Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) to the Neurosurgery and orthopaedic wards at the LRH to fill the vacuum, but it would be difficult to get these wards recognized immediately.

The CPSP, carries out inspection of the wards after every six months and if they find that the deficiencies have been overcome, the recognition would be accorded, but in these cases, chances of getting recognized are very dim, said the officials.