Polyclinic set to have 100 medical officers

Islamabad: Chronically understaffed, the Polyclinic, the city's second largest government hospital after PIMS, is finally set to get 100 medical officers to the relief of both overburdened staff members and discontent visitors.

The Federal Public Service Commission, an autonomous organisation tasked with recruiting employees for federal government departments and organisations in BPS-16 and above, is currently in the process of interviewing MBBS degree holders for these BPS-17 positions.

Though to be made on temporary basis, the appointments are likely to last for an indefinite period of time, an insider told ‘The News’. According to him, though there’s a ban on recruitment, the Establishment Division had granted a special permission for those appointments through the FPSC more than a year ago subscribing to the hospital’s standpoint that the understaffing is compromising patient care.

Of the 100 posts, eight are to be filled on the basis of merit and the rest on regional quota with 50 for Punjab residents, 11 for Rural Sindh’s, eight for Urban Sindh’s, 12 for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s, five for Balochistan’s, four for Gilgit-Baltistan and Fata’s, and two for Azad Jammu and Kashmir residents.

Currently, the Polyclinic offers primary, secondary and tertiary care not only on its 545-bed premises in G-6/1 but also at 33 dispensaries it operates in the city’s residential sectors, at superior courts, Judges Enclaves, Pak Secretariat, Aiwan-i-Sadr and Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

Ironically, 17 of these dispensaries are ‘non-sanctioned’ making the hospital arrange for their staff and medical supplies on its own. These health centres were opened over the years on ‘emergency basis’ in line with the special orders of the ministry overseeing the Polyclinic or the prime minister but the promise for their early formal approval remained unfulfilled and thus, denying the hospital separate funds and staff for them.

Under these circumstances, the Polyclinic has made makeshift arrangements to cater to these ‘non-sanctioned’ dispensaries. “We send doctors and other staff members from the main premises to these dispensaries on rotational basis along with medicines and other supplies to ensure smooth patient care. Though this arrangement causes the hospital to suffer, especially when it, too, is undermanned, we’ve no choice but to do it,” a senior staff member said.

He, however, felt that the imminent availability of 100 more medical doctors would considerably ease the problem and thus, improving the staff’s efficiency and patient care. “With the FPSC interviews for these posts under way, the recruitment process is likely to be over by the end of this month,” he said, adding that the newly-appointed doctors would fill vacancies. The official said the administration was also hopeful about the early filling to many other vacancies awaiting appointments for a long time.