January 03, 2008	Thursday	Zilhaj 23, 1428

PESHAWAR, Jan 2: At least 2,000 doctors working as general duty medical officers have not been promoted despite remaining in regular service for the past 15 to 20 years in the NWFP health department, sources said.

“The provincial government announced a four-tier formula for the promotion of general duty medical officers in 1994, but those serving in BPS-17 are yet to get benefit,” they said.

They said a proper service structure was the longstanding demand of the medical officers, who lacked chances of promotion unlike the teaching and specialist doctors. Those who specialised in were automatically promoted to the next grade but the general duty medical officers didn’t have a proper system of promotions.

Under the formula, 50 per cent of the doctors working in BPS-17 were to be promoted to BPS-18, 35 per cent of those in BPS-18 to BPS-19, 14 per cent of those in BPS-19 to BPS-20 and one per cent of those in BPS-20 and above were to be promoted.

“The formula has been implemented but the doctors serving in BPS-17 have not benefited,” said the sources in the health directorate.

They said the government had begun hiring medical officers on contract stopped recruitment on the regular basis.

A few general duty medical officers had been promoted from BPS-17 under the formula but about 2,000 were still awaiting promotion, they said.

Those who got promotions from BPS-17 to BPS-18 were later promoted to BPS-19 but the others have been stuck in BPS-17.

The health department has also converted some permanent posts of BPS-17 to BPS-18, which affected the career of the doctors serving in BPS-17, the sources said.

“I have been working as a general duty medical officer since 1987 in BPS-17. Some of my class fellows with the same qualification have gone to BPS-18 and 19,” a doctor said. He said fresh lecturers at the universities were now offered BPS-18 but the health department was not promoting the doctors serving in basic health units and civil hospitals in the province.

The sources said all the other provinces had implemented the formula for promotions and recruited doctors in BPS-17 on a regular basis.