The Sindh Health Department has ended the services of 289 doctors who were hired on short-term contracts during the Covid-19 emergency, triggering widespread criticism from the medical community and healthcare unions.
A formal notification issued on June 27 confirmed the discontinuation of these medical officers, effective June 30, citing the completion of their tenure and their non-selection through the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC).
Appointed on 89-day contracts under service rendered basis arrangements at the height of the pandemic, these doctors, many of them women, served in some of the province’s busiest public health facilities, including those in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Naushahro Feroze. Though initially hired for three months, many continued to work for years without formal regularisation.
Despite their extended service during a critical time for public health, the government has now deemed their roles surplus to requirement. The decision has drawn strong reactions from health professionals and advocacy groups, who argue that the government is ignoring both the contributions and the ongoing needs of the healthcare system.
“These doctors stood at the front lines during an unprecedented health crisis. They should be absorbed into the system, not shown the door,” said Dr Farrukh Rauf, chairman of the Young Doctors Association, Sindh. “We strongly believe that those who served as frontline health workers during the pandemic deserve to be absorbed into the government healthcare system.”
While the official stance maintains that the doctors did not qualify through the SPSC process, critics point out that the very same requirement was set aside when these appointments were made in the emergency context. Observers now say the government is invoking procedural norms to disengage professionals it once urgently needed.
Many of the doctors who worked in high-risk settings, including Covid wards, vaccination centres and isolation units, were exposed to great personal risk, with some contracting the virus themselves. Their removal, they argue, comes without even the offer of future employment consideration or transition support.
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has also denounced the move. “This is a grave injustice to professionals who risked their lives to serve the public in a moment of national crisis,” said Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, general secretary of PMA Centre. “They deserve recognition and regularisation, not removal.”
The PMA has called for the immediate reinstatement of doctors who have served for over five years, and warned that the government’s decision could discourage young professionals from joining public health service in the future.
Officials in the health department declare fiscal limitations as a factor behind the decision, and hint that further workforce rationalisation may follow. Meanwhile, the affected doctors say they are exploring legal options, and plan to appeal to the chief minister for intervention.
For now their employment officially ends on June 30, coinciding with the start of monsoon season, a period when hospitals across the province brace for a rise in waterborne and infectious diseases.
Published in News Daily on 30 June 2025.