PESHAWAR: Doctors have expressed concerns over delay in accepting their demands including regularisation of jobs and releasing their pending salaries by the government.

They said that at least 100 senior doctors in different public sector hospitals of the province were likely to resign in protest.

Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Monday, Provincial Doctors Association leader Dr Ayaz Arif demanded of the government to take serious notice of doctors’ demands and take them on board during health policy making process.

Flanked by other office-bearers of the association, he said that doctors had been facing many serious problems in the province. He said that they had presented their demands to government time and again but health department was least bothered to pay serious attention to them.

Dr Ayaz alleged that government was trying to woo the senior doctors, who were about to resign. He said that the relevant officials should resolve the issues of doctors instead of requesting individuals to continue service.

He claimed that most of the doctors, who were likely to resign, were serving in Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex. He said that in case the doctors resigned, the entire health system in the main public sector hospitals of the province would badly suffer.

The PDA leader said that government should also order audit of the alleged irregularities in funds of social health insurance initiative in order to ensure provision of quality medical services to needy patients under the welfare scheme.

He said that the relevant officials should take pragmatic steps to resolve the long awaited issues of doctors instead of running the health system through social media. He also urged the government to accept the charter of demands of doctors including regularisation of jobs and releasing their pending salaries.

“We have been demanding of the government to resolve our problems otherwise we will be left with the only option to announce boycott,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2022