PESHAWAR: The administrative cadre, introduced in health department to run management positions, is fading away as there has been no induction in it for the past few years, according to sources.

They said that the cadre was introduced in 2009. They said that it was meant to task the doctors having qualification in health administration to work on administrative positions such as directors, district health officers and medical superintendents etc. Even at that time, many senior doctors, who held administrative positions and risked losing them, obtained degree in health administration from private institutes to be able to retain their posts, they said.

“There is general cadre, specialist cadre and management cadre in health department. Medics belonging to the former two are required to examine patients and the latter to hold managerial positions,” they said.

Sources said that previous government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa changed rules and allowed general cadre doctors to work on administrative positions. “It hammered the last nail in the coffin of administrative cadre doctors,” they added.

General cadre doctors holding managerial positions

According to them, now, there is severe shortage of administrative cadre doctors due to which general cadre medics are holding managerial slots like district health officer (DHO), medical superintendent (MS), deputy medical superintendent (DMS) and director etc.

“As the government continues to post general cadre doctors to administrative positions, scores of doctors with qualification from abroad in health administration are sitting idle. As a result, those holding important managerial positions cannot deliver to a desired level due to lack of experience,” said sources.

They said that at present several junior doctors were holding key slots that were meant to be filled by senior administrative cadre doctors. Even at directorate general (health services) offices, key slots are occupied by junior officers. These positions are important because they collaborate with Unicef, WHO and international donor organisations.

“The situation regarding the posts of DHO is the same as many junior have been holding these positions of BPS-20,” sources told this scribe.

They said that appointment of general cadre doctors on administrative positions not only deprived administrative cadre medics of their right but also adversely affected the performance of health department. They added that junior and general cadre doctors could not be substitute for their administrative cadre colleagues, who had relevant qualification and experience required for such

positions.

“The positions of regional directors are held by BPS-19 doctors contrary to the requirement of BPS-20 officers,” said sources. They said that the purpose of creation of administrative cadre was to ensure resolution of financial and administrative issues of employees and hospitals and improve patient care locally by reducing burden on directorate general (health services), which was required to deal with provincial matters as well as international donors and UN agencies.

“The important positions of DHOs are held by junior doctors and most of them have no qualification in administration. Some of them have additional charge of medical superintendent too,” they said.

They said that change in government’s policy to allow general cadre doctors to work on administrative positions had also disappointed medics to get qualification in health administration due to which the cadre was dying down. “Not only this, but the administrative cadre doctors are often made OSD and during this period they get half salaries. OSDs are also deprived of health professional allowance and their salaries and allowances are restored when they get posted,” said sources.

They said that administrative cadre was vanishing as government was outsourcing hospitals. Contractors appoint their own people from market on administrative positions in outsourced hospitals. So far, 25 hospitals have been outsourced and outsourcing of 72 others is in the pipeline.

“Administrative cadre doctors have no place in medical teaching institutions (MTIs) because being civil servants, they are asked to resign in case they are selected there. MTIs hire people from the market on contractual basis and therefore indication are that administrative cadre will disappear,” said sources.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2026