SHC directs SPSC to submit report on appointments of over 2,200 doctors

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday directed the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) to submit a progress report on the status of process for sending recommendations to appoint over 2,200 doctors in the provincial health department.

The direction came on petition seeking appointments of doctors in government-run hospitals in Shikarpur and provision of adequate medical facilities for the patients. The petitioner, Shahab Usto, submitted that several victims of the Shikarpur Imambargah blast a couple of years ago had to be shifted to hospitals in Sukkur and Larkana due to a lack of proper medical facilities and specialised doctors at the Civil Hospital Shikarpur. He added that many lives could have been saved had adequate facilities been available at the hospital.

He maintained that many of the injured were shifted to the hospital in rickshaws and police mobiles as there was no ambulance available in the city. Usto further submitted that the medical facilities available were not enough to cater to the needs of around one million population of the city, and several posts for specialised doctors and other staff were lying vacant despite an annual budget allocation of Rs22.3 million.

The court was requested to direct the government to fill in the positions and order an inquiry into why the posts of senior doctors and specialised surgeons at the hospital remained vacant. A deputy health secretary informed the SHC that the requisition for appointments of 1,783 doctors on general posts and 457 specialised doctors had been sent to the SPSC but no recommendation had been received yet from the SPSC.

He submitted that a few recommendations were sent for special cadre on which appointments had been made. An SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar observed that several posts of doctors lying vacant in the government-run hospital depicted a very alarming situation and judicial orders had been passed to fulfil such posts without any delay.

The SHC expected that the SPSC would expedite the recommendation process and complete the exercise within four months. The court also issued notice to the SPSC chairman and directed him to submit a progress report by April 3 with regard to the status of the process of sending recommendation for appointments of doctors by the Sindh government.