Young doctors demand immediate withdrawal of ‘controversial’ advertisement

ISLAMABAD: The Young Doctors Association (YDA) and the Young Consultants Association (YCA) housed within the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) have expressed serious reservations over the contents of an advertisement floated by the FMTI administration and have demanded its immediate withdrawal, failing which the ‘distressed medical community’ will have no option but to resort to legal recourse.

A letter addressed to the Secretary of the Ministry of National Health Services highlights some of the irregularities noticed in the advertisement; these are said to have created unrest among existing civil servants.

The letter points out that the appearance of the advertisement in circumstances where the MTI Act is yet to be promulgated in its true sense and is yet to be signed the president, is itself a violation of the law.

“No rules and regulations have been formed and posts have been advertised. This is against the recruitment policy of the Establishment Division. An autonomous body cannot recruit people on the posts of civil servants—be they promotion or FPSC slots. The FMTI has not created its own new slots and has not taken permission from the Establishment Division to do so,” the letter states.The letter also mentions that the rules and regulations uploaded on the PIMS website are totally contradictory to the MTI ACT passed by the Senate and available on the Senate website.

“This advertisement has blocked the rights of civil servants and their promotion pathway and is causing needless stress among doctors providing services amidst the fourth Covid-19 wave,” the Chairman of YCA Dr. Asfandyar stated.

As per the MTI Act, existing civil servants will be given the option and a suitable period to decide whether they want to join MTI or retain their existing status. Ironically, this has not been done, but their posts have been advertised. Moreover, the advertisement makes no mention of the federal quota. “According to the MTI Act, the civil servants of PIMS are eligible for posting to any MTI post for a period of 10 years. So even if MTI posts are created, existing civil servants should have been given option first,” the letter adds.Alongside immediate withdrawal of the “illegal advertisement,” the YDA and YCA have also demanded materialization of long over-due promotions of doctors.