PESHAWAR, Sept 21: Doctors, who have been on strike against non-acceptance of their demands, have extended their protest across the province and Fata.

They demanded raise in salaries, promotion, accommodation and regularisation of 400 contractual doctors.

About 5,000 doctors have been on strike for five days at the Khyber Teaching Hospital, Lady Reading Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar, Ayub Medical College Abbottabad and Mardan Medical Complex.

Provincial Doctors Association (PDA) president Abdul Qadir on Friday said the association would meet the NWFP chief minister on Monday after which a future line of action would be chalked out. He said that doctors would continue their strike and set up protest camps. Mr Qadir said the PDA members on Friday held a meeting with the health minister. “The minister acknowledges that their demands are genuine, but is unwilling to accept them,” he added.

“We don’t believe in words. We will end strike after our problems are solved.”

The association chief said that doctors had ended their strike on Aug 1 after the health minister assured that the government through an ordinance would regularise 400 contract doctors and solve their other problems. He said that a number of contractual doctors had been terminated recently through a notification.

The minister, Mr Qadir said, had also assured them that all their demands would be met within three weeks but that had not happened.

He said doctors were boycotting OPDs, wards and operation theatres, but emergency patients were given medical treatment.

“The government has recently appointed 703 doctors through the Public Service Commission, but contractual doctors have been terminated despite 10-15 years of service,” he said, adding that contractual doctors had also qualified the PSC tests more than once, but they were not regularised.

He said the government wanted to transfer the newly-appointed doctors and 200 trainee medical officers to rural areas which would end their training half way.

Most of them have comple-

ted three of the four-year training mandatory for specialisation. Dr Qadir said that about 500 doctors lacked accommodation facilities at the three teaching hospitals.

He said the government paid Rs3.7million to hotels for doctors’ accommodation, but it was reluctant to built hostels.

He said that house officers, trainee medical officers and medical officers were paid less than their counterparts in other provinces.