PESHAWAR: Bid to restore jobs of doctors resented: Resignations after IBP introduction
By Our Correspondent
PESHAWAR, Oct 14: The NWFP government’s attempt to restore the services of the doctors who had resigned after the introduction of the institution-based practice (IBP) has created a wide rift among the doctors community with the two sides trying to pursue their respective goals, interviews with doctors revealed.
Some 18 months back about 30 senior doctors, including professors, associate and assistant professors, tendered their resignations in protest against the introduction of the IBP.
Following which, the then military-led government promoted the senior medical officers and senior registrars as assistant professors of the hospitals on the posts having fallen vacant after the resignation of the senior doctors.
Now, the MMA-led government has not only done away with the IBP but also constituted a committee to look into the possibility of the reinstatement of the doctors who had left their service in protest against the IBP. This has sent a chill down the spines of those who had got promotions to next grades. They fear that in case of the restoration of senior doctors’ services, they would face demotion.
In this connection, both the doctors who had resigned and those who had got promotions were holding meetings to pressure the government in their favour.
Those who were promoted argue that they were the obedient government servants who accepted the IBP with open heart, whereas those who resigned in protest were dissidents because they failed to comply with a law that had been duly promulgated by the government through an ordinance.
Likewise, they maintain that these doctors had been given an open option either to accept the IBP or resign from their jobs, and they opted for the latter. On the contrary, they stayed and reinforced the hospitals’ working at a time when they had suffered a great deal due to the resignations of the senior doctors.
“The hospitals as well as medical colleges faced the threats of derecognition by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), but we sacrificed and supported the government in trying times,” said a doctor who was promoted from the post of senior registrar to assistant professor some 10 months back.
According to him, at that time, their seniors who had resigned put pressure on them, but they remained steadfast and sided with the government just for the sake of the institutions.
The senior doctors, who after resignations began their private practices, earned a lot of money. Some have gone abroad for better life.
“Now, the seniors are back to rejoin their services, which is against the rules,” said one doctor. According to him, these doctors who had cited personal reasons in the applications they had moved for resignations, “cannot be restored under law”.
Quoting the Servant Rules of 1973, he said those whose resignations had been accepted on personal grounds could not be reemployed on the same posts from which they had resigned. They could be reemployed afresh or on contract basis without affecting the seniority of the existing officers, he added.
Meanwhile, the doctors who had resigned have also stepped up their efforts to get themselves reinstated on the positions from which they had resigned. A senior doctor, claiming to be representative of the senior doctors and medical teachers, has arrived from abroad after the government announcement to reinstate them.
A grand dinner has been arranged here on Thursday, where, besides the doctors who had resigned, provincial health and law ministers have also been invited, to show their strength.
However, most of the doctors who had got promotions into next grades on the posts which had fallen vacant after the resignation of their seniors, had declined to attend the dinner. They argue that these doctors had nothing to do with teachers association, because after resignation they no longer remained the association’s members.
These doctors are also planning to go to the court in the event of reinstatement of these doctors.
“We are also in the process of preparation of a reference to the governor to inform him about the situation,” said an assistant professor.
