22 October 2004	Friday	07 Ramazan 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 21: Doctors have expressed resentment over what they term illegal appointments on teaching posts in local hospitals.

"Senior posts are being filled in teaching hospitals through back doors. It is extreme injustice to deserving doctors," a surgeon said while expressing the feelings of genuine candidates, who, he said, had been rejected despite having the desired qualifications.

He said that it was creating resentment in the medical community while affecting the performance of the entire health delivery network.

Recently, he said, some doctors had been employed as senior registrars at different departments of the Khyber Teaching Hospital, allegedly in violations of rules.

The move, he said, had been severely criticized but the outcome was not positive.

He said that the practice was evident in interviews held by the Institutional Management Council on Aug 26 for the posts of senior registrars in departments of surgery, psychiatry, casualty, ENT and orthopaedics.

Earlier, doctors were sceptical about the entire process after the interview results were delayed by than one-and-a-half month. A doctor alleged that the IMC had changed the selection criteria twice in an effort to accommodate candidates wielding clout.

According to officials in the health secretariat, rules framed by the provincial government in connection with such appointments had been bypassed. Likewise, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council's rules for such appointments were not followed.