KARACHI, June 13: After trying for four years to get the four-tier promotion formula implemented, doctors of the defunct KMC are now successful as the city district government, Karachi, has approved all of their demands.

DCO Karachi Shafiqur Rahman Paracha, in consultation with city Nazim Naimatullah Khan, has signed the order, according to which the four-tier formula will be implemented for doctors of the defunct KMC, who are now working under the health department of the city government.

According to the order, the posts of MOs, RMOs, demonstrators, senior registrars and dental surgeon of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital have been upgraded with effect from 10-3-1998.

The order highlights the formula which is allocation of one percent seats for grade 20, 15pc for grade 19, 34pc for grade 18 and the rest of the 50pc doctors will be in grade 17.

Now the city government will have three doctors of grade 20, 42 of grade 19, 96 of grade 18 and 142 of grade 17, belonging to the defunct KMC, who will move to the next grade as per the vacancy available and their seniority.

Since doctors suffered due to lack of promotion and most of them used to retire at the same grade, ie 17, at which they were appointed, so the four-tier formula was introduced in the Sindh health department in 1998, and a letter dated 10-3-1998 was sent to the KMC by Sindh local government department asking them to implement the same.

However, due to apathy on the part of administrators of the KMC, the case lingered on since then.

Dental surgeon Parkash Lal Khitwani was the only doctor of the KMC to get promoted in 1998 according to this formula. At present he is serving in grade 20. The other doctors who will be in grade 20 are Dr Shamim Zaidi and Dr Rizwana Bano.

To ensure that no injustice was done to any of the doctors, the Nazim Karachi had instructed that incentives and benefits be given to the doctors who had retired since March 1998.

According to Dr Humayun, who is DO Admin-II in the city government, there are only five doctors in such case and by including them in this upgraded list the city government has also saved itself from other problems if they decided to go to the court of law.

Though the formula has been implemented for 283 allocated seats of doctors of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, only 209 doctors are now working as 68 seats are lying vacant, and six doctors are on long leave.

After the implementation of the order, doctors coming to grade 18 will get arrears of about Rs86,000 and those in grade 19 will get about Rs125,000.—PPI