Punjab government has decided to hire at least 600 MBBS doctors for its basic health units (BHUs) and they would be employed on contractual basis, a spokesman of Health Services told here on Saturday.
He said the doctors serving in the rural and basic health centres would be paid an extra allowance of Rs 5,000 per month. He said that Sindh government has assured that it would not interfere if the Punjab government provided jobs to doctors of Sindh on handsome salaries.
However, he regretted that doctors were not willing to serve in the rural areas. He said that if a doctor went abroad for one-year specialisation, another doctor would be appointed to his place on ad-hoc basis.
Opposition MPA Dr Muhammad Javed Siddiqui has bitterly criticised the Punjab government for creating only 100 vacancies of doctor for Southern Punjab's 13 districts and 500 posts in Upper Punjab. Of them 71 in Okara, 42 in Gujrat, 44 in Gujranwala, 38 each in Nankana Sahib and Mandi Bahauddin and 40 in Narowal, While in Southern Punjab, 11 in Multan ten each in Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, 12 in Leiah and 9 in Rajanpur.
Another Eight districts of Vehari, Lodhran, Khanewal, Rahimyar Khan, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal and Pakpattan were totally neglected.