ISLAMABAD: Questions have been raised over the Ministry of Health’s handling of the absorption of doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).
The employees alleged that the ministry was not implementing a recent Supreme Court judgement in its true spirit.
However, health ministry’s spokesperson Sajid Shah said absorptions will be made according to the law and the apex court orders will not be violated.
A senior doctor, wishing not to be quoted, said the Supreme Court’s Sept 22, 2026 judgement, available with Dawn, identified 28 doctors who joined Pims after Dec 6, 2004, through transfers or postings from other federal and provincial health institutions without undergoing the prescribed process of appointment by transfer or absorption.
Doctors urge health ministry to implement SC judgement without discrimination
“The ministry had proposed that such doctors should either be absorbed in Pims at the bottom of the existing seniority list or returned to their parent institutions,” he claimed.
Another doctor said under the existing appointment-by-transfer policy, the process required five years of government service, at least three years in the borrowing institution, satisfactory annual confidential reports and no-objection certificates from both institutions. This is also indicated in a document available with Dawn.
“Instead of applying the policy uniformly, the ministry has initiated the appointment-by-transfer process for some doctors, among them is a radiologist from Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), who is seeking his working papers for absorption in Pims with effect from May 6, 2008,” he claimed.
He alleged that such retrospective absorption could affect the seniority of other Pims doctors.
Doctors have urged the ministry to implement the Supreme Court judgement transparently and without discrimination, particularly in the wake of the recent Pims fire tragedy.
Health ministry’s spokesperson Sajid Shah, while talking to Dawn, said that all absorptions will be made as per rules.
Proposed BoG system
Meanwhile, the employees of Pims have also expressed concern over rumours that a board of governors (BoG) system was likely to be introduced in the hospital.
Their representative body — Federal Health Alliance — has called an emergency meeting to discuss the issue.
A statement issued by the alliance said the employees will seek clarity about the administrative structure of the hospital, future policies and their service-related matters.
The meeting will review the situation, discuss employees’ concerns and formulate a future course of action after taking the views of all unions. The alliance said Pims had witnessed changes in its administrative and legal structure over the years. The BoG system was introduced under the Federal Medical Teaching Institutes (FMTI) Act, 2021, but the legislation was subsequently repealed by parliament in 2023 and Pims was restored as an attached department under Schedule III, it claimed.
The alliance said the BoG system had also failed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and was being discontinued there.
It demanded that employees be taken into confidence before any change to the administrative structure of the hospital, and called for clear information about the proposed arrangements.
Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2026
