ISLAMABAD: Though the 18th Amendment was hailed as a good step taken by the previous government, it has put the future of 13 senior doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) at stake.

Hailing from Punjab and KP and working at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in Karachi, which was a federal government subject, the doctors got themselves transferred to Pims.

But after the devolution of the health sector, they are in the state of constant fear of being transferred back to the JPMC which has now been handed over to the Sindh government. After the 18th Amendment, eight hospitals working under the federal government in different cities (except Islamabad) were given under the provincial governments.

Because of the decision, all employees, even those appointed through the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), came under the provincial governments.

A doctor at Pims requesting not to be identified said as many as 11 doctors of JPMC were transferred to Pims before and two after the 18th Amendment but all of them were selected by the FPSC.

“They included four assistant professors, one senior registrar and six medical officers. All of them belong to Punjab or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Some of them have been working in Islamabad since 2009,” he said.

They included Assistant Professors Dr Altaf, Dr Saeeda, Dr Mujahid Raza, Dr Nuzhat, Senior Registrar Dr Samina, medical officers Dr Syed Farooq Shah, Dr Niaz Mohammad, Dr Anwar Gul, Dr Ghulam Shabir, Dr Aqeel, Dr Faisal, Dr Yasir and Dr Ibrahim, he said.

“The transfer letters of Assistant Prof Dr Mujahid Raza, Dr Niaz Mohammad, Dr Syed Farooq Shah and Dr Aqeel were issued recently but three of them got stay orders from the Islamabad High Court,” he said.

Their future seems to be hanged in the balance because the Pims administration has declined to accept them as their employees whereas the JPMC is not a federal government institute now, he said.

As a result of an ordinance, around 50 per cent employees of other devolved ministries were adjusted in other departments but the Pims doctors could not get benefit from this facility.

The ordinance was promulgated by the president of Pakistan in May 2013 empowering the federal government to absorb the employees in departments in which they had been transferred.

A doctor who fell prey to the 18th Amendment said unfortunately their names had not been included in the list of the employees sent to the health department of Sindh by the administration of the JPMC after the 18th Amendment came into force.

“A number of doctors, who were transferred from other federal government hospitals to Pims, were absorbed in the hospital before the devolution process but doctors from JPMC could not be absorbed,” he said.

This issue is causing unrest not only among the doctors but also other employees of Pims who have been transferred from JPMC, he said.

“We are well settled in Islamabad along with our families and it has become a humanitarian issue now because our children are studying in Islamabad and we have become used to the life here,” the doctor said.

The doctors have appealed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and the authorities concerned to take notice of the issue.

Spokesperson for Pims Dr Ayesha Isani while talking to Dawn said according to the rules every doctor had to go back to their parent institution after completion of the five-year deputation period because now the JPMC is a provincial institution.

“But because of different reasons doctors don’t want to go to Karachi and have been trying to be absorbed at Pims. There is quota of different provinces at Pims and those doctors can be absorbed but for that first they have to file an application and secondly there should also be vacant seats on the provincial quota,” she said.

“If the doctors are directly absorbed, it will be unjust with the permanent employees of Pims. Moreover, seniority list will also be affected,” she said.

In reply to a question, Dr Isani said it was not correct that doctors’ names were not included in the seniority list of the JPMC.