18 July 2004	Sunday	29 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

PESHAWAR, July 17: A special committee of the health department has recommended regularization of 30 senior registrars working on contractual basis in the city's teaching hospitals.

Chairman of the special committee, Dean Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI), Prof Dr Arshad Javaid, said that they had initially recommended regularization these doctors' services.

"They are competent ... they deserve their services to be regularized," he said. He said that they had been appointed three years ago against posts of senior registrars in Hayatabad Medical Complex, Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Khyber Teaching Hospital, Khyber Medical College and the PGMI.

"These doctors were (appointed) in BPS-17, while the senior registrars were (appointed) in BPS-18 ... the department concerned argue that a contractual junior government servant cannot be regularised against a senior post ... they can only be regularised in their own grades," he said.

However, he said that such a rule could be waived by competent authority.

The committee, which compiled the report, comprised of the officials of law, finance and establishment departments and the chief executives of the three teaching hospitals.

The committee, had favoured the regularization of senior registrars, saying that they were regular government employees and had been appointed on the same posts by transfers.

The law department in a previous committee meeting had raised an objection that most of the doctors in grade-17 were currently posted as senior registrars, a grade-18 post.

The committee's report would be sent to Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani, who would take a final decision in this regard, he said.

The regularization of senior registrars was one of the issues that had surfaced after the government decided to reinstate those doctors who had resigned in protest against the introduction of the institution-based practice in government hospitals.

Initially, the health department had opposed the their regularization but later it constituted the special committee to look into their case.