March 11, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 2, 1429

KARACHI, March 10: Doctors who from Friday started getting the official results of the tests for appointment as medical officers in the Sindh health department have claimed that the authorities have stopped issuing letters intimating official results for unspecified reasons.

The provincial health department, which is hiring the services of doctors reportedly on a contract basis for one year against vacant posts of about 2,100 medical officers (grade-17), specialists (grade-18) and nurses (grade-16), had started issuing the results to successful medical officers on Friday.

The successful candidates were being handed over the result sheets at the offices of the Sindh Director General Health in Hyderabad and the Executive District Officer Health in Karachi. However, the process was stopped on Saturday. Though it resumed at the DG Health office on Monday the EDO Karachi preferred to withhold the results, a number of male and female applicants told Dawn.

Sources in the city district government disclosed that the EDO Health office had handed over the letters to six to 10 candidates on Friday, but failed to continue the exercise after receiving a letter from a former health secretary of the province, Dr Iqbal Saeed Khan.

It is likely that the process will resume on Tuesday and the EDO will issue the letters to successful applicants, said an official of the provincial health department, adding that the EDO had been told not to withhold the letters, which had been signed by Sindh Caretaker Health Minister Fauzia A Lari.

Additional Secretary Health, Dr Iqbal Saeed Khan, who ceased acting as secretary on Monday, said that he had never asked the DG Health or EDO Karachi to stop issuing the letters pertaining to results at any stage. “I do not know why they halted the process,” he remarked.

However, he added, he had issued a letter on the subject of ban on appointment/transfer/posting, and required the compliance of the instructions of Sindh Services, General Administration and Coordination Department.

The SGA&C department’s letter issued on February 22 states that no appointment/transfer and posting will be issued further at the levels of departments and districts and those which have already been issued with effect from February 19 were required to be sent to the department for scrutiny.

In the absence of Health Secretary Malik Asrar Hussain, who went on leave on health grounds, Special Secretary (Public Health) Dr Abdul Majid had been tasked to perform additional duties, said an official of the department.

The health minister, meanwhile, talked to the officials concerned on Monday and directed them not to withhold the result letters, said a source in the health department. It was pointed out that the minister was keeping the caretaker chief minister updated on the subject and he too is appreciative of the action of handing over the formal result letters to the successful candidates.

The tests were conducted and results were finalised only a few days before the exit of the last elected government and since then candidates have been on tenterhooks awaiting the results.

They had started staging demonstrations to press the government for issuance of appointment letters.

About a week back, the caretaker chief minister and provincial health minister had stated that the elected government would issue the letter of appointments against the vacant posts of the medical officers, specialists and nurses.