PESHAWAR, Aug 1: The NWFP chief secretary has convened a meeting to review the proposed service structure for paramedics in the Frontier and Fata, an official said.

The official said that NWFP's Chief Secretary Ijaz Ahmad Qureshi had objected last month on the proposed summary on the paramedics' service structure and said that it would create problems for the federal government as there was no similar structure for their counterparts in other provinces.

NWFP's Paramedical Association has already initiated province-wide token strikes and has planned complete strikes in district and agency headquarters hospitals to press for their demands.

The chief secretary had also mentioned its financial implications for the province, sources said, adding that the item was on the provincial cabinet's agenda in its last meeting, but could not be taken up for discussion, because of "shortage of time".

Officials said that even if the cabinet had taken it up, there was no possibility of its approval because of the chief secretary's differing note on the summary. They said that the chief secretary was scheduled to chair a meeting on Aug 4, to decide about the fate of the paramedics' demand.

"The chief secretary is likely to direct health department officials to incorporate some amendments to the proposed service structure to make it workable", official said.

The proposed service structure, divides the staff in 57 different disciplines, which have been grouped in 14 categories. According to the proposed new formula, 6,944 of the total number of paramedics would move to BPS-9, 1,042 to BPS-12, 304 to BPS-14, 216 to BPS-16, 161 to BPS-17, eight to BPS-18, three to BPS-19 and one to BPS-20.

The provincial government, which is paying slightly more than Rs44.9 million in salaries to the paramedics every month, will then be spending a little more than Rs46 million, official said. Sources said that presently the number of paramedics in BPS- 5,6,7,8 and 9 was 8,308, 217 were BPS-10, 11 and BPS-12, 18 in BPS-14, 15 in BPS-16 and 12 in BPS-17.