LAHORE, Sept 14: The fate of contract doctors still hangs in balance as promises to regularise their services made by successive chief ministers may not be fulfilled because of a host of ‘hiccups’.

Besides, a number of public hospitals have advertised in national dailies for recruitment of doctors on a contract basis, ignoring the direction of the chief minister that new appointment should be made on a regular basis.

Like previous chief minister Pervaiz Elahi, Shahbaz Sharif has also announced regularisation of contract doctors’ services. A committee, headed by the provincial health secretary, has been formed to finalise the modalities in this regard.

According to a source, the law department has informed the health department that the services of contract doctors, who are more than 400 in number, might not be regularised because of legal complications.

“If the process of confirmation initiates, it will create a lot of complications in the promotion procedure of the doctors whose services have been regularised,” he said and added that the authorities had decided in principle during the government of Pervaiz Elahi that status quo should be maintained.

Similarly, the Supreme Court had observed that since the contract employees were not civil servants they were not eligible to become permanent employees. The Medical Health Institutions Act 2003, which says doctors recruited on contract can't be regularised, is another hurdle.

A senior doctor suggests that legislation should be made in the provincial assembly to regularise the services of contract doctors. A contract doctor however sees senior doctors as a major hurdle to the process, saying that senior doctors fear that regularisation of the services of contract doctors will create seniority problems.

He says health authorities have already conveyed to them that they will have to go through the public service commission's exams for appointments on a regular basis.

“The contact system does not offer job security and incentives like promotions and post-retirement benefits. It is also resulting in brain drain,” he says.

He says contract doctors will take the Pakistan Medical Association on board to press the government to remove hurdles to their regularisation.

On the other hand, the Contract Doctors Action Committee held bureaucracy responsible for not implementing the chief minister’s directive in this regard.

Committee president Dr Mumtaz Ahmed expressed dissatisfaction at a committee formed by the government to resolve the issue. He urged the chief minister to include doctors’ representatives in the committee.

Contract doctors have formed an 11-member committee, consisting of Dr Rashid Qamar, Dr Irshadul Haq, Dr Afsar Ali Bhatti, Dr Javed Iqbal, Dr Waqas Raza, Dr Rao Shahid, Dr Khalid Javed, Dr Mumtaz Ahmed, Dr Nazir Ahmed, Dr Ziaullah Malik and Dr Riaz Ahmed, to review the matter.

Punjab health secretary Anwaar Ahmed Khan was not available for a comment.