LAHORE: Admitting its failure in making doctors serve the health facilities in rural areas, the government has announced a new step to get the job done: making grant of MBBS degree conditional with serving basic health units for a certain period of time.

The step was made public by Parliamentary Secretary for Health Khwaja Imran Nazeer during Question Hour in the Punjab Assembly here on Tuesday.

“We’ve exhausted all (other) measures to appoint doctors at BHUs but they are not listening to us. Rather they aren’t ready to go outside Lahore (the provincial capital),” he told a questioner in the House.

“Now, we’ve decided to grant the MBBS degree to those who’ll promise to serve in rural areas,” he said without mentioning the minimum period of time set for the purpose.

Seeing resistance by the medical community, particularly from the Young Doctors’ Association citing unavailability of accommodation, and consuming all earlier stick and carrot policies, the government had offered a hefty financial incentive of Rs50,000 to Rs150,000 (in accordance with the distance between the BHU and the district headquarters). But this offer too was rejected.

Then another incentive met with partial success. The medical professionals doing specialisation (FCPS) were offered that the time they would serve at the BHUs would be considered part of their training, compulsory to win the degree, while they were also to be paid Rs25,000 extra as further financial incentive and a couple of points during interview for postings through the Punjab Public Service Commission.

Khwaja Nazeer informed the lawmakers that work on equipping each union council in the province with a BHU hit a snag for want of doctors.

To overcome the shortage of doctors in the urban state-run hospitals, he said, interviews of 800 of them had been completed and the posting process started on Tuesday (April 5).

MPA Amjad Ali Javed claimed that the health authorities themselves were a hurdle in the appointment of doctors at rural centres.

“Whenever we take a doctor willing to serve in rural areas to health authorities, they appoint him 100km away.” When the parliamentary secretary assured him of action, the MPA said it was the deputy health secretary he was complaining against.

He also promised action when the MPA negated the government claim that ads had been given in newspapers to fill vacancies in the health department. “No such ad was carried in any paper,” said Mr Javed.

RESOLUTIONS: Speaker Rana Iqbal did not allow tabling of a resolution out of turn by MPA Asif Mehmood against arrest of alleged RAW agent from Balochistan.

The chair insisted on following assembly rules (for allowing the motion).

The House adopted two resolutions: one by Hina Pervaiz Butt seeking more vocational training centres for women in Punjab and the other by Sibtain Khan for strict action against those selling ‘fake’ milk.

Four resolutions were kept pending for want of response from the department concerned.

The House proceedings were then put off for Wednesday morning.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2016