PESHAWAR, Sept 6: The Contract Doctors’ Association has announced that it will start a movement for the restoration of services of 400 contractual doctors terminated by the government.

The association warned of strikes at government hospitals if their demands were not accepted.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, association’s president Dr Ijaz Ahmad, general-secretary Rozat Shah and Provincial Doctors Association president Dr Abdul Qadir said that about 1,200 doctors had been appointed on contractual basis since 1995.

The contract doctors regretted that the present government had terminated the services of the doctors.

They said that when the government was considering the termination, they had staged a hunger strike and were assured by officials that their jobs would soon be made permanent.

They regretted that despite assurances by provincial minister for health Inayatullah Khan, the contractual doctors were terminated.

They said that when they had tried to meet the secretary health in this regard, he refused to see them. They warned that they would start a struggle for the restoration of terminated doctors.

Dr Ahmad announced the merger of their association with the Provincial Doctors Association and said the two bodies would now jointly struggle for rights of the doctors’ community.

He asked the government to restore and make permanent all terminated doctors.

Dr Qadir warned that if the terminated doctors were not restored immediately then they would observe a token strike and later a complete strike at all teaching hospitals of the city.