ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: Senior surgeons, and top officials of the health ministry have asked President Gen Pervez Musharraf to suspend the recent meritorious promotions of six doctors to grade 20, which according to them, smack of favouritism.

An official source told Dawn that at least four complaints had been submitted to the president, highlighting that the promotions were made by changing the selection criteria and ignoring the dedicated doctors who had a lot of achievements to their credit. The petitioners have also alleged that the promoted doctors hold minor diplomas and some of them have even been convicted in cases.

The Chief Executive Secretariat, the source claimed, had sought comments from the establishment division on these petitions.

Recently, a departmental promotion committee considered the names of different doctors working in the health institutions under the control of the federal government for their promotion to grade 20.

The committee, headed by finance minister Shaukat Aziz, comprised secretaries of the health ministry and the establishment division. It considered the promotion of doctors working in the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), Federal Government Services Hospital, commonly known as Poly Clinic, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical College, National Institute of Cardio Vascular Diseases (NICVD), Karachi, and National Institute of Child Health (NICH), Karachi.

However, only six doctors were selected for promotions, out of which four belonged to Poly Clinic alone, and one each to Pims and NICVD.

According to the complainants, promotion were made only on the basis of annual confidential report (ACR), whereas the committee should also have considered professional skills, experience and reputation. Previously, they said, aspects like professional expertise and teaching experience of the professors were also considered.

“Medical practitioners working in dispensary-like setups have been promoted, while the doctors working in big hospitals, having interaction with scores of patients daily, were ignored,” a professor said.

He claimed that the promotions were made to patronize few individuals. Many of these doctors hold minor diplomas similar to those degrees possessed by the registrar of different medical faculties.

Similarly, a another complainant told Dawn that the only qualification one of the promoted doctors had was that she used to treat the children of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. He said one of the doctors was a junior cardiologist and had even faced rigorous imprisonment in Karachi.

Likewise, he said, another doctor, belonging to provincial government, got herself appointed to an establishment under federal government. Moreover, the position to which she had been appointed was created two years after her absorption.