Doctors’ associations in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have united with a new common platform called Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Doctors Council, who warns the provincial government to immediately cease harassment by doctors.

A meeting was held in Peshawar on Friday, chairman of Dr. Abdul Majid. It was attended by Dr. Sibghatullah, Dr. Rizwan Rajput and Dr. Fazal Manan from the Provincial Doctors Association.

DR Asif Yousafzai from the Young Doctors Association, Professor Dr. Musa Kaleem from Teaching Tax, Dr. Haroon from PMA, Dr. Nisar from Islamic Doctors Forum, DR Zulfiqar from Peoples Doctors Forum and Dr. Daniyal from Pima attended the meeting.

Participants rejected what they called the “cruel” professional tax that was imposed on doctors by the provincial government. They demanded that the tax be restored to previous rates in line with other provinces.

To tackle the question, a committee with three members was set up to hold conversations with the government. The Council also required immediate stops for actions targeting doctors.

Participants demanded withdrawal of letters issued by the Point Department and the Tax Department to Finance Directors for MTIS and Accounting General KP regarding salary deductions from doctors.

“The wages for all doctors, including house officers, internships and medical officers, should be increased in relation to inflation in the upcoming provincial budget. The heavy fines imposed on doctors by the Health Commission in the name of the registration should immediately be abolished,” the meeting required.

Along with this, harassment of doctors in the name of the drug sale license should be stopped and the court decision in the case must be conducted.

Since 2017, no job ad of the Public Service Commission (PSC) has been published, which they called a serious injustice.

The Council demanded that jobs be announced immediately through the Public Service Commission. At MTI hospitals, recruiting and promoting doctors instead of the police council must be secured according to the procedures and standards formulated by PMDC as the rest of the country, it added.

The obstacles in the appointment of officials given by the MTI board to NOC must be removed and officials should also have the opportunity to serve in MTIs.

Violations of profits and nepotism in agreements in MTI hospitals must be stopped immediately and supremacy of profits in agreements should be secured, the council said.

According to the message issued by the Chief Secretary on Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU), the promotion of doctors has been performed on the basis of the performance of the independent monitoring unit (IMU). The doctors’ society has serious reservations about this and it must be abolished and the promotion must be performed on the basis of ACR.