PESHAWAR, Oct 8: In an apparent violation of the prescribed rules and policy of posting and transfers, certain doctors are working against administrative posts in the public-sector hospitals at the provincial capital, according to sources.
Doctors can work on an administrative post for a maximum period of three years, stipulate the rules. But in violation of these rules, some doctors in the provincial public-sector hospitals have been occupying administrative posts for well over ten years, the sources said.
“Some of the doctors are so influential that they have managed to work as deputy medical superintendents (DMSs) and resident medical officers (RMOs) for 10 to 15 years,” said a doctor.
According to him, they are too well-entrenched to be shaken. He cited an example of a DMS at one of the city’s public-sector hospitals, who, when transferred three months back, was able to approach Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani and get his transfer orders cancelled.
And the practice is prevalent in all the three public-sector hospitals of Peshawar — the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) — with doctors working as DMSs for the past several years.
“These people, who hold minor diplomas in administration, create problems for clinicians. They transfer hospital employees in breach of rules,” said an assistant professor at the KTH.
These hospitals have also appointed doctors as DMS (security) and DMS (litigation) etc., despite the fact that DSPs are also posted there.
The situation at HMC and KTH is extremely bad, because the chief executives there are too busy to give even an hour to the administrative affairs.
These DMSs and RMOs draw their strength from their connections in the chief minister’s secretariat, allege some.
According to the laid-down rules for postings and transfers, the doctors must be transferred after three years to other destinations.
“Rules are being violated with impunity. Some of the hapless doctors have been working in remote areas of the province for the last 10 years, and want to pursue postgraduate studies. For this, they need to be posted for two years in a teaching hospital, but this opportunity they are denied,” said a doctor.