20 February 2005	Sunday	10 Muharram 1426

PESHAWAR, Feb 19: The provincial government has failed to convince trainee medical officers (TMOs) to call off their token strike and assume duties in their home districts. However, both the authorities and representatives of the doctors have agreed to hold a meeting on Tuesday.

Sources said that NWFP Health Minister Inayatullah Khan, Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI) Dean Dr Arshad Javaid and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) Chief Executive Dr Shad Mohammad Khan held separate meetings with representatives of the TMOs asking them to call off the strike in all tertiary care hospitals of Peshawar.

One of the representatives of the doctors, present during the meetings, said that they had informed the provincial government about their demands that they would resume charge in peripheries but remain in tertiary care hospital till completion of their four-year training.

He said that they have asked the provincial government to withdraw their postings from peripheries and post them through PGMI at teaching hospitals. He claimed that in case the government failed to agree then all the TMOs would go on complete strike.

The under-training doctor said the provincial health minister had assured them that their options would be review and at the same time invited the doctors' representatives to attend a meeting on Tuesday.

The TMOs, who after qualifying primary postgraduate examination, are posted in teaching hospitals, where they continue their four-year training and manage the wards services. In case of shortage of senior staff, they are supposed to attend patients and provide consultation to house officers.

Official sources said that the government had transferred 67 TMOs from Khyber Teaching Hospital, Lady Reading Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex to their home districts, but they had refused to leave.