ISLAMABAD: The head of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s (PMDC) Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) has decided to take up a matter regarding a letter written by PMDC employees in a council meeting, as he believes council employees cannot act like a union.

However, acting registrar Dr Azhar Ali Shah said the employees are frustrated because the DPC has been trying to hire officials from the market rather than promote council employees.

PMDC employees wrote a letter to the acting registrar expressing concerns and a lack of confidence in various officials and members of the DPC, and asked that the committee be reconstituted.

The letter claimed that the 2012 employees’ rules were not being implemented and the DPC was allowing candidates from the private sector to submit documents after the late date of submission had passed.

The employees also objected to the DPC’s decision to upload the seniority list to the website, which they argued was not covered by the law.

DPC head Dr Amir Bandesha told Dawn he wanted to address the issues and ensure that employees are promoted on merit rather than by joining various groups.

Employees cannot act like a union, says DPC head, acting registrar claims employees are frustrated by lack of promotions

“The seniority list of all the judges of the high courts and Supreme Court are available on their websites. Seniority lists of more than 12,000 doctors of Punjab in the general cadre, teaching cadre and specialist cadre are also on the health department website. Similarly, seniority lists of bureaucrats can be found on websites because this brings transparency,” he said.

“Powerful officers can change lists in files but not on websites, because the data can be retrieved. It should be made public on the website so no one can play hide-and-seek in the files,” he added.

Dr Bandesha said one fourth of the council’s 206 employees have signed the application.

He claimed that he had spoken to all the signatories and found that three of the signatures were fake or forged, and 90pc said they were not told of the content of the application and were ready to withdraw their names.

“I suggest that neutral and hardworking employees should be promoted, but unfortunately, in the history of the PMDC, only those were promoted who had good relations with their bosses or were part of some group. By ensuring merit, we can make employees loyal to the council rather than to groups,” he said.

“I have decided to take up the matter in the council, and also request the management to form an inquiry committee. In the rules, PMDC employees cannot write such letters as they cannot form unions – this attempt shows that a union has been made in the council,” he added.

Dr Shah told Dawn that since the DPC was constituted almost a year and a half ago, it has not promoted a single officer.

“The DPC held a meeting and prepared a report [which said] PMDC employees were not competent to be promoted, so hiring should be done from the market. It is not correct that the employees have formed a union; I believe that they have been united for their rights,” he said.

He added that the seniority list cannot be uploaded to the PMDC website because this is not covered by the law.

Dr Shah said he has informed the management that he will ensure that the law prevails, being the custodian of the rules, or he would have no choice but to leave the post.

He said: “The advertisement for jobs was published in January, and now additional documents are being called for from the candidates through another advertisement. Moreover, the employees who have signed the application are being threatened and warned that they will be fired.”

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2017