LAHORE: Instead of regularising over 2,500 positions created under the Prevention and Control Programme of Epidemics (PCPE) to fight the menace of dengue, the health department has come up with a ‘novel idea’ of hiring entomologists on daily wages.

It was for the first time that the BS-17 and other professionals with sound research-based qualification were being hired against an odd package of Rs1,000 per day, a senior official privy to the development told Dawn.

“An entomologist is a scientist who studies insects”, the official said. He said entomologists had an important role in disease prevention that included the study of the classification, lifecycle, distribution, physiology, behavior, ecology and population dynamics of insects (in this case mosquitoes).

Earlier, he said, the PCPE had hired under-matric lower field staff as daily wagers. However, the recruitment of entomologists against the same package shocked these professionals.

He said the health department had included 10 out of total 80 entomologists under ‘contingent paid staff’ category against this irrational package while the process of hiring others was also on.

He lamented that the bureaucracy seemed to be in the habit of introducing ‘illogical policies’ to curtail one of the fast-emerging and deadly tropical diseases (dengue fever).

Professional researchers find the idea humiliating; may go on a strike

The Punjab government had created 2,589 positions under the PCPE in 2012 in the wake of the first major dengue outbreak in the province which had claimed 352 lives, he said.

The positions were created for five high-risk districts -- Lahore, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, and Multan. Later, the recruitment was made against these positions on contract basis with a provision for regularising them ‘soon’. Some of the major posts in this category include Additional Director General Vector Borne, Manager Operation, Manager Partnership, Manager Enforcement, Manager Training, Entomologist, Assistant Entomologist and Inspector Environment.

Meanwhile, the official said, the government shifted the PCPE from development to non-development category in January 2014 on the pressure exerted by the contract-based staff.

However, it was astonishing for them that the positions created under PCPE were not regularised.

The officials hired under the programme strongly criticised the government for not regularising the positions and threatened to quit the jobs if their grievance was not addressed immediately.

“Meanwhile, 18 out of the total 86 environment inspectors have left the PCPE mainly due to unreasonable salary structure”, the official said, adding that many others were also likely to take the same course due to “unprofessional” approach of the government officials.

Instead of acknowledging the concerns of the contract employees, Lahore commissioner, a week back, floated a proposal to hire 100 more entomologists for three months only, he said.

The official said that after a thorough discussion on the proposal, the authorities agreed to recruit 80 entomologists to be posted in the provincial capital only.

Initially, the total financial implications of the hiring of ‘daily-wages professionals’ was estimated around Rs9 million.

The hiring was supposed to be for only September, October and November --- the peak season of the dengue disease.

“In the first phase, 10 new entomologists have been inducted against the package, while the process of hiring others is in progress”, the official said.

Similarly, he said, the department had also initiated recruitment of 1,250 male sanitary petrol officials on daily wages for Lahore. Each official is being offered Rs390 per day.

Instead of making the PCPE a permanent feature of the health system, the bureaucracy was introducing flawed policies, he said, adding that all the contract employees, including entomologists and environment inspectors, were considering to go on a strike for their demands.

Published in Dawn, September 16th , 2014