Islamabad, 12 May, 2025: Contract basis Doctors have been urgently brought in across Punjab’s public hospitals as the government moves to stabilise healthcare services disrupted by an ongoing strike from young medical professionals.
The Punjab Health Department confirmed that hundreds of physicians have been recruited temporarily to fill critical gaps, especially in emergency units.
The swift action came in response to a protest by the Young Doctors Association (YDA), which had opposed the administration’s decision to outsource certain public healthcare facilities.
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In order to maintain operations in outpatient and inpatient wards, the provincial authorities instructed the University of Health Sciences (UHS) Lahore to begin hiring Contract basis Doctors for short-term service in teaching hospitals, including major ones in Lahore.
Officials disclosed that 450 physicians have already received job offers, including senior consultants, registrars, and male and female medical officers.
According to the pay structure, medical officers are set to receive Rs8,000 per shift, while senior registrars and consultants will earn Rs10,000 for each eight-hour duty.
The government has emphasised that these roles are strictly temporary, with the initial contract lasting for one month, subject to extension depending on service requirements.
Within a week, UHS had registered over 4,500 doctors for potential deployment, which authorities suggested reflects the high rate of underemployment among qualified physicians in the province.
All selected candidates must mark attendance digitally, while medical superintendents will verify their presence to ensure accountability.
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Payments for the temporary roles will be processed directly into the doctors’ bank accounts via UHS.
The government clarified that this initiative does not offer any path to permanent employment, and is purely designed to address the emergency staffing shortfall.
Health officials highlighted that employing Contract basis Doctors is not an unusual measure, noting that similar locum-based systems are in use in countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, and Gulf nations to manage workforce gaps in their respective healthcare sectors.
