KARACHI, Feb 22: The Sindh government has in principle decided to recruit 1,300 doctors and health specialists against the vacant regular posts in grade-17 and 18 in the health department on contract basis, it is learnt officially.
A senior government officer said that appointments on a regular basis had been deferred for the time being. The appointments under the contract system, he added, would be for one year with the possibility of an extension of another three years.
After clearing a test, the successful candidates would be recommended for a job by a four-member committee, without involving the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC), said the source.
The proposals on recruitment of doctors, medical officers and specialists were presented to Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim at a meeting on Wednesday. The chief minister asked the health department to withdraw its requisition pertaining to the appointment of 700 doctors through the SPSC and re-advertise the vacancies, along with 600 other posts which would now be filled with contractual practitioners, it was further learnt.
When contacted, health secretary Dr Noshad Sheikh confirmed the development and mentioned that the chief minister had given approval to the proposals submitted by his department in regard to the appointment of doctors.
He said that the chief minister had called for filling the posts of doctors in grade-17 and 18, which numbered around 1,300, in two months. “In addition to the lately vacated posts of 300 doctors in grade-17 and 300 in grade-18, we will be advertising the 700 posts of medical officers and doctors which were advertised by the SPSC in the past.”
About three weeks back, the chief minister had declared the results of written tests for the 700 posts in question null and void, citing reports of ‘large-scale irregularities and manipulation’ in the tests conducted by the SPSC.
The health secretary said that new appointments would be hospital/district- specified which would help retain the doctors at district hospitals or rural health units and dispensaries for a longer period. The contract of newcomers would be extendable for a period of three years after constant evaluation and in the light of reports from the concerned nazim, DCO and EDO health, he added.
The appointment committees under the newly-approved system would comprise the health secretary (chairman), additional health secretary, the DCO concerned and the EDO (health) concerned.
“We will be advertising the posts available in the health institutions located in almost all districts of the province very soon,” he added.
HANDOUT: According to a handout issued here on Wednesday, the chief Minister, maintaining that the Sindh Public Service Commission cannot seek requisition for selection of candidates without his prior approval, has directed the concerned department that all previous requisitions forwarded to the SPSC be reverted in the larger public interest, adds APP.
Dr Arbab stressed that employment would be provided only to suitable candidates strictly on the basis of merit and the culture of nepotism and corruption would be weeded out.
