Polyclinic doctors reject new pay scale

ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: As many as 70 senior faculty members at the Federal Government Services Hospital (Polyclinic) have refused to join the newly-introduced Career Health Personnel Scale (CHPS), creating more trouble for the federal government.

The CHPS has already been challenged in the Islamabad High Court on October 5, which has issued notices to a number of ministries and government departments. The petition has sought withdrawal of the new service structure for health professionals in the federal government institutions.

The petition was filed by some 27 doctors and paramedical staff of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) praying the court to declare the “Career Structure for Health Personnel Ordinance 2011” as illegal.

According to the ordinance, an official equivalent to the director general health (BPS-21) would be working in HPS-13 under the new scale, which would be equivalent to BPS-22.

The teaching faculty members of the federal hospitals would work in HPS-12 that is equal to BPS-21.

A senior faculty member while talking to Dawn on condition of anonymity said: “We don’t find anything positive in the HPS and this is the reason we have outrightly rejected the new pay-scale in our hospital.”

He said they had never demanded any new service or pay structure instead it was the Young Doctors Association which was fighting for regularisation of their services.The YDA protested for over four months in the capital hospitals, forcing Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to announce the new service structure in April.

According to information shared with Dawn; 70 doctors have sent a one-age communication to the secretaries of Capital Administration and Development Division and the cabinet informing them that they would not opt for the CHPS.

“Since we do not trust our management, we have formally sent a written communication signed by several heads of departments to the federal government regarding our refusal of the new pay scale,” said another senior official.

Medical staff members at Polyclinic, including heads of departments, associate physicians, surgeons and medical officers, have signed the communication. The doctors’ community at Polyclinic also informed the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) that they were not willing to join the service; therefore, no change should be made in their salary structure.
Meanwhile, the position at Pims is a bit different as according to one administration official, only 25 per cent of doctors have refused to sign the draft while the remaining consented to joining it.

“Twenty-five per cent means only 90 officials so the number is not that big for our management,” added a senior administration official at the hospital.