LAHORE, Dec 15: The Punjab Health Department has dropped promotion cases of nearly 600 senior medical officers (SMOs) of grade 18 from the working paper forwarded to the Provincial Selection Board, it is learnt.

A source told Dawn on Thursday that the health department had recommended cases of only 480 doctors out of 1,055 for final consideration expected at the meeting of the Provincial Selection Board-II here on Friday (today). The move has sent a wave of shock among the ‘eligible’ candidates awaiting their promotions for the last many years.

Chaired by Punjab Additional Chief Secretary Nadeem Hassan Asif, the meeting would be attended by senior officials from finance, regulation and health departments. It would be the first meeting of PSB-II after three years in which the promotion cases of the grade 18 doctors are to be finalised.

The source said the health authorities had prepared working paper of 1,055 SMOs serving the state-run health facilities all over the province for their promotion as additional principal medical officers (APMO). The cases were shortlisted from the list of 1,200 doctors, which had been provided to the health department by a delegation of medics representing the eligible SMOs.

The health department had assured the SMOs time and again that their promotion issues would be resolved according to policy and there was no need to be worried in this regard.

However, the health department dropped the names of nearly 600 SMOs at the eleventh hour and recommended a list of only 480 doctors to the PSB-II on Tuesday, the source claimed.

According to the Promotion Policy 2010, notified by the Punjab government, the health authorities shall recommend a panel of at least three candidates (doctors) to finalise case of one of these three nominees for promotion.

On finding the violation of laid-down policy and merit, a delegation of affected doctors met the authorities concerned at the health department and also apprised the additional chief secretary of mismanagement but to no avail.

Dr Haq Nawaz Bharwana, who was representing the affected doctors, confirmed the development to Dawn, saying the health department had mishandled the cases of SMOs awaiting promotions for the last many years.

“It seems some senior officials in the health department want to ‘accommodate’ the candidates of their choice only,” he said.

Dr Bharwana said the recommendation of 480 cases to PSB-II was a sheer violation of sections 7 and 9 of the Promotion Policy 2010. The policy had been enforced in 2011 and the authorities concerned were bound to make a panel of at least three candidates for promotion against each post, he said.