ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Babar Sattar on Saturday imposed a fine of Rs25,000 on the Dean of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and members of defunct Federal Medical Teaching Institutions (FMTI) Board of Governors (BoG) for failing to submit comments and avoiding court appearances in an ongoing case.

The case was filed by doctors appointed under the FMTI Act who have challenged the withdrawal of the extension of their contracts and service agreements by the Pims administration in September 2023.

The doctors argued that they were regular employees, not contractual staff, as stipulated in their service agreements signed by the Dean, which granted them regular employment status.

According to a doctor, despite the lengthy 16-month delay in responding to the case, the Dean has yet to file the required comments.

“Compounding the issue, doctors recruited under the FMTI Act were not paid their salaries for the entire year of 2024. However, after the intervention of the IHC, salaries were released in January 2025 and we are not aware that if we will get the salaries regularly in future,” he said.

Another doctor described it as “the height of cruelty”. He emphasised that the mental distress caused by the prolonged non-payment of wages, and has created severe hardship for them and their families.

“We are now demanding that both the Pims administration and officials within the Ministry of Health be held accountable for an ongoing pattern of neglect and mistreatment,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2025