LAHORE: The health department reviewed on Saturday the proposed service structure, service rules and the promotion matters of the doctors in general, management and specialist cadres.

The issues were discussed at length at a meeting presided over by adviser to chief minister on health Khwaja Salman Rafique, says a handout issued on Saturday. Health Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik, Special Secretary Salman Mufti and other officers also attended the meeting which took a decision to give final shape to the service structure, promotion matters and service rules within three weeks or so.

The meeting was called in the wake of reservations of senior doctors awaiting promotions for the last many years.

Khwaja Salman directed Deputy Secretary (Gen) Adnan Zafar and senior consultant Chaudhry Naseer to prepare working papers and other documents of doctors of general and specialist cadres falling in promotion zone and take up all matters relating to promotion of doctors on a priority.

On the other hand, the doctors said it was an attempt to placate the community and mislead Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who had directed the officials a few years ago to promote doctors within four months.

Dr Masood Sheikh, who is official member of the five-member committee – Health Management Cadre – told Dawn that the adviser to CM had earlier called several such meetings but unfortunately no concrete step was taken. He said being representative of the doctors, he had presented in every meeting detailed reports carrying backlog of promotion matters and available positions to help the health department streamline the long-standing issue.

Sharing details with Dawn, he said at present 1,900 positions were vacant in BS-19 and 20. Luckily, he said the doctors were also available in almost equal strength against these positions.

“Some 1,600 positions, including old and new, are available in BS-19 according to the current seniority list,” Dr Masood said. As many as 1,500 doctors in BS-18 are awaiting promotions,” he said and added that he had already shared these figures in the earlier meetings with the health authorities.

He further said 624 general cadre doctors (medical officers, senior medical officers and additional principal medial officers) were promoted to BS-18. A notification was also issued in this regard in 2009. Consequently, these promoted doctors were appointed as specialist, senior registrar and assistant professor after change of their cadre.

Unfortunately, he said, more than 400 of these 624 doctors were yet to be listed in the general cadre and the health department did not bother to revise their cadre so far. “After addition of these 400 positions, the total number of the vacancies would reach 1,900, he said.

Commenting on Saturday’s meeting, Dr Masood said the health authorities were planning to promote some “blue-eyed” doctors instead of considering the cases in bulk. He said the promotion of a few hundred doctors would create resentment in the community.

He said the chief minister had called a high-level meeting at the CM Secretariat two years ago wherein all the stakeholders were present and revised the four-tier formula 1.15.34.50 and unanimously agreed to the new one 3.19.36.42.

According to the new formula, he said, more positions were added to the senior grades. The BS-20 vacant seats have reached 320 after addition in accordance with the new formula.

Dr Masood said the revised formula was mentioned in the “opening sentence” of the agreed service structure of the doctors. The chief minister had strictly directed the health department to promote the senior doctors within four months of that meeting when the issue of backlog of the cases was raised.

“Since then several official meetings of the health department had been called but the cases of promotions of doctors in BS-18 and 19 are still pending,” Dr Masood lamented.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2014