RAWALPINDI, May 11: The district government has appointed 117 doctors in Basic Health Units (BHUs) and Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) hospitals in the district.

Medicines worth Rs7.2 million have also been purchased for these health care centres, to be supplied as soon as the doctors assume charge, health department officials said.

“The repair and maintenance of these BHUs and THQs will cost another Rs5 million,” said District Health Officer Dr Shoaib Khan. He said the maintenance work was under way in some centres and would soon be started in the rest.

It would be completed before the end of the current fiscal year, he added.

There are 98 BHUs in the district, most of which are in a dilapidated condition. A large number of the BHUs lack basic amenities like electricity, water, sewerage and gas. These facilities are to be provided under the Social Action Programme.

However, so far, there has been no mention of how the shortage of equipment in most of the BHUs would be overcome.

The health department will introduce a three-tier monitoring system to keep a vigil on the working of doctors and the output of BHUs. There would be very little room for the newly appointed doctors to indulge in negligence and laxity, the officials said.

The doctors, they said, were being hired on a lucrative monthly salary of Rs12,500 and would be allowed private practice. However, their five-year contract could be terminated at any time in case of poor performance. “We have already made replacement arrangements,” a senior official said. These doctors, he added, would not be transferred during the contract period.

The provincial health department, the sources said, was so particular about the issue that it had instructed that the district government officials concerned should be questioned if they failed to notify the poor performance of a doctor.

District Nazim Raja Tariq Kiani in a speech to the newly appointed doctors urged them to maintain the sanctity of their profession and devote themselves selflessly to the service of the downtrodden rural people.