PESHAWAR: Provincial Doctors Association has expressed concern over the repatriation of 19 civil servants/ trained doctors to the health department by the administration of the Institute of Kidney Diseases Hayatabad Medical Complex and has demanded revoking of the decision for the sake of patients.

The decision would adversely impact patients’ care, said a press release of the association.

The medics included nine from emergency, two from transplant ward with seven year work and three year postgraduate experience.

Presently, there was only one transplant consultant and a specialist registrar who will not be able to take proper care of the patients. As the IKD is the only public sector institute doing renal transplants, therefore, such a massive repatriation of trained doctors would have negative effect on its transplant programme.

PDA said that on the one hand, the government claims to develop renal transplant programme at the IKD while on the other, the trained staff was being repatriated.

The association said nephrology unit was short of staff as three doctors got repatriated despite the fact that these doctors, being civil servants, had been taken from the health department on requisition when the IKD had 150 beds.

Now it has more than 300 beds and the sudden repatriation will badly affect the performance of the hospital as the under staff hospital will not be able to provide desired care to patients.

PDA requested health minister Khaliqur Rehman and secretary health Shahidullah Khan to look into the matter and save the patients from suffering.

It said though the repatriation of doctors was part of the policy that civil servants will not work in the medical teaching institutions but reminded that their services were needed in the IKD.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2026