Notices have issued to Trainee Medical Officers (TMOs) of Lady Reading Hospital to vacate their rooms in hostels for which each of them pays Rs.15, 000 as rent. Government provides this facility to the TMOs near the hospital to facilitate their round the clock presence for duty under the supervision of Pakistan College of Physician and Surgeons accredited supervisors in out-patient department, indoor treatment of patients in wards and emergency management.
Shunting TMOS out of government hostels is nothing but a strategy of settling scores with future specialist doctors, possessing latest knowledge and endowed with milk of humanity, at the cost of health of patients under treatment in government hospitals. Government has already locked horns with young doctors who have qualified for induction in training for specialist cadres as vacant slots in teaching level hospitals are deliberately not filled in. Health Secretary Yahya Akhunzada is adding fuel to the fire by telling young doctors that Khyber Pukhtunkhwa hospitals don’t need TMOs till 2027. Is it objective thinking when compared with the proposal of a former Health Secretary suggesting therein four new category-A hospitals for the Capital City of Peshawar in view of its population growth? Or is it a classic case of a civil servant from Pakistan Administrative Service to become a mere tool at the hands of a US national doctor who remote controls the affairs of health department?
Health index of Pakistan on the UNDP criterion is dismally low at 0.5 percent and there is only one qualified doctor for a population of 10,000 people. But Health Secretary tells to the delegations of young doctors aspiring for TMOs vacant slots that the province doesn’t need the future specialists of medical fraternity during next 8 years. Is it not victimization of this noble and important fraternity that serves humanity?
