Senior LRH doctors worry about their future

Told by admin to sign new contract if want promotion

PESHAWAR: The long-awaited promotion of faculty members at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) has created unrest among the doctors as majority of senior medics are worried about their future because the hospital administration has directed them to sign new contracts if they wanted to get promotions to higher grades.

Frustrated by the prevailing uncertainty, some senior faculty members said they were planning to get premature retirement or golden handshake if offered to them by the government.It is widely speculated that the Medical Teaching Institute of Lady Reading Hospital (MTI-LRH) has two set of rules for promotions to accommodate so-called blue-eyed doctors.

Interestingly, the previous acting dean of Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI) of LRH, Prof Muzaffaruddin Sadiq during his tenure had promoted four doctors from associate professors to the rank of professors as per previous rules.

They were neither asked to sign new contract nor were bound to relinquish their private clinics and do the institution-based private practice (IBP).They included Dr Waqar Alam Jan, who is a surgeon, Dr Niamatullah, an ENT specialist, Dr Afzal Khattak, pediatrician, and Dr Javed Iqbal Farooqi, physician.

Interestingly, one of them was a strong opponent to the MTI Act, but he was promoted to the rank of professor and also made chairman of department.Besides, Dr Riaz and Dr Zafar of the Medicine Department were promoted from senior registrar to assistant professor without signing contracts.

And very recently Dr Seemi Ghaffar of Gyneacology Department was promoted from associate to professor and exempted from signing a new contract.Some of the doctors who were directed by the hospital administration to sign new contract if they wanted promotions said they were recommended by departmental promotion committees for promotion from the post of assistant professor to associate professor in April 2016 and after an unnecessary two months delay approved in June by the institutions promotion committee. 

“Now in November, the hospital administration is asking us to sign contact. Is this not discrimination as I was not in the list promoted before September? If it was not my fault then why I was punished for it,” one of the victims complained.

Senior faculty members in LRH told The News they have lost confidence in the system after what they termed “double standards” in recent promotions. They said they had no option but to approach the court.

The doctors said associate professors promoted to professors in the same institution aren’t required to sign new contract or do IBP.“The associate professors promoted by the acting dean last year have almost 10 years of service till retirement. So the logic that associate professors are at the end of their career will not hold ground in a court of law. The second unusual rule is for senior registrars and assistant professors. They will be required to do IBP on promotion and signing new contract, which seems to me illogical,” a senior faculty member said on condition of anonymity.

He said the LRH administration was violating the rules. “If these are new appointments then according to regulations every new appointment has to be advertised. Were these posts advertised?” he queried.

Another senior faculty member of the hospital said he had been serving for past 21 years in LRH and was supposed to be promoted to associate professor.However, he said the hospital administration asked him to sign new contract if he wanted to be promoted.

“As per the new contract, I will need to start my service from zero. And when I asked them where is my 21 years of service, they have no answer,” he said.According to doctors, after serving on same position for eight years, a doctor has to accept the new contract for promotion.

“If the doctor didn’t accept the contract, the hospital administration would offer it again in six months. And if they didn’t accept it again, the faculty member would be sent home and the administration can appoint anybody else on same position,” a senior physician told The News.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government faced tremendous resistance from doctors when MTI Act was promulgated in January 2015. Its implementation was delayed for one year due to litigation in the court. The Board of Governors (BoG) LRH should have learnt a lesson from previous mistakes. Through its recent decisions, it seems it wanted to force the doctors on going to the court and delaying the process.The LRH budget has been raised from Rs2 billion to Rs4 billion but patient care is yet to be improved.