FAISALABAD: The administrations of the Punjab Medical College (PMC) and its affiliated teaching hospitals --Allied Hospital and DHQ -- are struggling to ensure punctuality of senior doctors.

Punjab Minister for Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Salman Rafiq says the PMC Principal has been directed to address the punctuality issues.

In response to a Dawn query, he said Allied Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Rashid Maqbool had sent a letter to heads of all the departments to ensure punctuality of doctors, particularly of the seniors.

For patients, the situation in the outpatient department is pathetic. Those having complicating and chronic issues want to consult senior doctors but they have to wait for hours for their turn.

In his letter titled `Punctuality’, the MS said: “It has been observed that the doctors do not observe punctuality; senior doctors reach the hospital late. You are requested to look into the matter and ensure punctuality of the doctors, especially senior registrar.”

A man at the PMC car parking for doctors told Dawn that one could find a few cars in the parking area till 9:30am. He said a majority of the senior doctors reached after 10am although the official timing was from 8am to 2pm.A young doctor requesting anonymity told Dawn that punctuality seemed not a priority of the senior doctors which forced the MS to ask the heads of departments to ensure timely joining of duty.

He said MS had no control on senior doctors, including professor, associate and assistant professors who were under the direct command of the PMC principal or the Punjab government.

PMC Principal Dr Fareed Zafar did not respond to text messages when Dawn tried to get his comment.

Published in Dawn December 3rd, 2016