KARACHI, Dec 20: Demanding better salary packages for doctors, the Pakistan Medical Association, Karachi chapter, said that low salaries and non-conducive working conditions was compelling doctors to change their profession.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the local chapter of the doctors’ association expressed concern over the service structure for doctors in Sindh.

According to Dr Qaiser Sajjad, the secretary-general of PMA Karachi, doctors belonging to the cadres of general, specialist and teaching in the public and private sectors found the existing pay and allowances package highly unimpressive and non-satisfactory.

“This is the main reason that most of the doctors are switching to other professions and working in other departments like pharmaceutical companies, Income Tax, Police Department etc, while a number of others either have left the country or are planning to go abroad for a better future”, he remarked.

He observed that poor payment by the government too was also encouraging the private sector to undermine the services and status of doctors.

He said that the PMA had been demanding for the last one year to implement a service structure for doctor in Sindh which had already been implemented in Punjab.

“On the issue, we have sent letters to the Sindh chief minister on Feb 9, 2007 and to Sindh governor on May 11, 2007 and to the Sindh health minister and health secretary on Feb 9, 2007, but to no avail”, the PMA leader said.

It was further said that a house officer and postgraduate trainee in Punjab were getting a stipend of Rs12,000 and 15,000 respectively and an annual increment of Rs1,000 for postgraduates. Similarly the non-practicing allowances are Rs4,000 a month for Grade -17 and Rs6,000 month for Grade -19.

He said that the house officers and postgraduate doctors in Sindh were not being paid on a par with Punjab, which was a matter of concern. The non-practicing allowance in Sindh was only Rs500 per month, Dr Sajjad said.

He urged the president of Pakistan to look into the matter and order for the implementation of a new service structure for doctors in Sindh.