PESHAWAR, Sept 11: Contract Doctors Association on Thursday expressed concern over the package announced by the government, stipulating them to appear in Public Service Commission examination in order to be re-posted.

This was stated by doctors appointed on contractual basis, who visited various newspaper offices including that of daily Dawn.

Urging the government to look into the problems faced by contract doctors, they said that they had already been working on contract basis for a considerable period of time.

They said that they had already qualified the PSC examination before being posted to their respective jobs, adding that it was unjustifiable to ask them to reappear in the examination.

The government’s policy, they said, was against the Civil Servant Act of 1973, adding that it did not apply to contract employees. Contract doctors, like those appointed on daily wages, were deprived of any benefits provided to regular workers.

They said that they had been working for the past eight years, adding that they had increased their professional knowledge by attending various workshops and courses. Some of them, they said, had qualified the PSC examination more than twice.

They said that some of the doctors had not been given regular jobs as authorities concerned cited shortage of posts in their areas.

Stressing the need for dividing districts rationally, they said that contract doctors from Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda and Swabi were the worst sufferers.