Govt-doctors deadlock ends as both sides agree to accommodate mutual demands

PESHAWAR: The deadlock between the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and medical practitioners’ bodies ended on Thursday after fruitful talks on the Medical Teaching Institutes (MTI) Reforms Act 2015 issue as both sides agreed to accommodate mutual demands in a bid to mitigate the sufferings of the patients.
According to an official handout, both sides resolved to mutually frame broad parameters in the light of a meeting held earlier with secretary Health, and the Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, who chaired the dialogues at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
He urged the doctors to cooperate with the government for making MTIs Act a success which, he added, had been enacted in the larger interest of the people of the province, especially those related to poor segments of society.
The chief minister assured that the provincial government was ready to take every necessary step for addressing the doctors’ grievances. “The service protection amendments will also be included in the MTIs Act. Salaries of the Trainee Medical Officers (TMOs) will be raised, which would not be less than that of any other province or private hospitals,” Pervez Khattak assured.
The meeting ended with the decision that the doctors’ bodies will no longer continue agitation against the reforms. They will also convince other doctors to withdraw cases from the court of law and rejoin hands with those who had agreed to cooperate with the government.
However, the chief minister stressed that a formal acceptable and unanimous agreement be framed between the provincial government and the doctors associations. This would, he explained, automatically pave the way for withdrawing the litigation cases.
The chief minister assigned the health minister and the secretary to draft the agreement in consultation and to the satisfaction of the doctors. He said the document be finalised by today positively.
Pervez Khattak directed that all the 10 demands discussed and accepted in Thursday’s meeting must be incorporated in the agreement.
The meeting was also attended by Health Minister Shahram Tarakai, Minister Finance Muzaffar Said, the chief secretary, secretary health, chairman of the Chief Minister’s Complaint Cell, Dilroz Khan, heads of the Boards of Governors of the MTIs, and representatives of the doctors bodies.
The demands and issues discussed and agreed upon by the both parties mainly included amendment to the act about terms and conditions of services, governance of medical institutions and registration of the graduates under the rules of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council instead of Higher Education Commission.
It was agreed that there would be no termination of any doctor if his/her promotion was deferred, working hours for the doctors would be fixed, there would be equal salary and working hours for the doctors who opt or otherwise for Institutional Based (private) Practice.
The option for the IBP will be revocable; the Post-Graduate Medical Institution would to be allowed to continue functioning, criteria for selecting head of the department / principal / dean and consent will be attained to follow the attendance monitoring system.
It was agreed that the medical practitioners of MTIs would observe 8.00 am to 3.00pm official working hours for six days a week. They would be paid handsome amount if called for extra hours of duty. The chief Minister directed the authorities to work out an acceptable payment schedule for this purpose in consultation with the doctors’ representatives.