PESHAWAR: The decision of Policy Board to abolish the posts of trainee registrars at medical teaching institutions (MTIs) has caused unrest among doctors, who argue that it will affect patient care.

MTI-Policy Board had ordered abolition of posts of trainee registrars two days ago and asked all medical teaching institutions to withdraw advertisements floated for such positions and terminate the contract of existing trainee registrars.

Provincial Doctors Association (PDA) has expressed concern over the decision and demanded of Policy Board to revoke it as it amounted to disrupting patient care at teaching hospitals.

“There has been a spate of advertisements for the posts of trainee registrars (TRs) in MTIs. Reviewing qualifications for such a post, it appears to be a devious pathway for extension of training for trainee medical officers (TMOs), who have completed their training but failed to pass FCPS examinations,” it said in a statement.

Policy Board chairman says the decision was meant to meet PMDC requirements

According to PDA, there is no justification for providing such a paid position to these applicants when the TMOs, who have received the same training at the same time and successfully passed FCPS examinations, are excluded. “These posts of trainee registrar must not cease to exist,” it added.

The chairman of MTI-Policy Board, Prof Nausherwan Burki, told Dawn that the objectives and requirements for experiential registrar (ER) position were to meet the requirements of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) for faculty positions. “These (ERs) are newly FCPS qualified doctors,” he said.

He said that the so-called TR positions had no clear objectives, didn’t require FCPS qualification and appeared to have been merely a paid extension of the three year TMO training for those, who failed to obtain their FCPS qualification.

Policy Board is an oversight body set up to issue guidelines to MTIs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The notification of Policy Board, issued two days ago, said that for those who had passed FCPS examinations and required a two-year experience in a given specialty to meet PMDC’s requirement for faculty positions, the posts of experiential registrars existed that had been created specifically to allow young doctors to become eligible for faculty positions.

It said that the progress of experiential registrars would be reviewed after one year and if found unsatisfactory, remedial action must be taken. Where it is deemed that there is a major lack of progress, the incumbent may be removed from the post and it should be made clear in the initial contract with those joining the position of ERs.

“Therefore, all advertisements for TRs must be withdrawn forthwith. If there are currently incumbents on such posts, they must be informed that the posts are being abolished. They will be allowed to continue for a maximum of three months, assuming that they still have as many months left in their initial contract and so long as such a decision meets legal requirements according to their contracts” said the notification.

These positions were approved by Policy Board few years ago in MTIs under which those, who completed four-year FCPS training but not have passed the examinations, were given opportunity to be appointed as TRs but they would have to pass the examination in two years.

The notification has drawn criticism from PDA, which says that Policy Board has already closed the doors on civil servants to work in MTIs and now abolition of TR posts will further hamper patient care. “These TRs have vast experience and have worked in all departments of MTIs,” said the press release of PDA.

It said that in all MTIs scores of TRs were working in all specialties and playing important role in patient care. They should be retained to ensure uninterrupted healthcare, it added.

Young Doctors Association (YDA) also condemned the decision of Policy Board.

“Already thousands of doctors are jobless, where will they go? Many hospitals need TRs for duties mostly where there are no TMOs. Who is misguiding the chairman of Policy Board,” YDA questioned in a statement.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2026