Unpaid PMDC employees complain of financial problems

Islamabad : While complaining about the government's delaying tactics to restore them despite the court's orders, the employees of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council have claimed that the non-payment of salary for months have caused serious problems for them and their families, especially children.

The Islamabad High Court had annulled the Oct 19, 2019, presidential ordinance for the PMDC's dissolution on Feb 11 but the National Health Services Ministry, which oversees the regulator, didn't restore the PMDC employees and challenged the verdict in the division bench.

The PMDC employees said they faced serious financial constraints for not being paid for around five months.

They sent video messages to the media about their plight.

Physically-challenged Salamat, who has worked with the PMDC as a peon for 10 years, said he and other PMDC employees were in distressed for being given slashed basic salaries, which could last one or two months due to high inflation.

“I began selling vegetables and fruits to manage my kitchen for family comprising wife, three kids and an old mother but the lockdown caused by the outbreak of coronavirus has emerged as a hurdle to the misery of us all," he said.

He urged the premier to step in for the restoration of PMDC staff members.

Zubair Bhutto, who was employed by the PMDC as an assistant 15 years ago, said he hadn’t got a penny as salary.

"I've old parents, one widow sister and two children to feed. The chief justice of Pakistan should come to our help as we have lost hope of getting any relief from the ministry," he said.

PMDC registrar Brig (r) Dr Hafizuddin Ahmed Sadiqque said almost 250 employees of the organisation along with their families suffered badly due to non-restoration and even one of them lost an ailing child recently for being unable to bear his treatment expenses.

“It is very painful to see 250 families suffer. The lockdown has increased their misery,” he said.

The registrar said 15,000 fresh doctors hadn't got house jobs due to the PMDC's closure, while around 50,000 doctors couldn't renew registrations.

"It is quite unfair that the government hasn't acted on the high court's decision to reinstate the PMDC," he said.

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