The Punjab government has abolished 1,008 posts of Emergency Medical Officers (EMOs), leaving hundreds of contract doctors without jobs just days before Eidul Fitr. The decision has raised concerns among affected doctors who had been serving in public hospitals for years.
According to an official notification issued on March 14, the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department has scrapped the EMO positions that were originally created in 2018. These doctors had been working in emergency wards of district and tehsil headquarters hospitals, covering morning, evening, and night shifts under a fixed pay package.
The EMOs were initially hired on a contract basis, with a monthly salary of Rs 150,000 and a promised annual increment. However, several doctors claim that the increase was never fully implemented. Many had continued working for years, expecting regularization under government rules that allow contract employees to be made permanent after three years of service.
In 2019, the Punjab government had approved amendments reducing the required period for regularisation from four years to three. Despite this, a large number of EMOs who completed continuous service were neither regularised nor given long-term security.
Officials say the recent move is part of a broader restructuring. The provincial cabinet, in December 2025, approved new human resource rules for the health sector. Under these rules, the same number of positions 1,008 have been re-designated as medical officers and women medical officers under a “special pay package.”
However, the change comes with a condition: the existing EMOs will not be automatically adjusted into these new roles. Instead, they have been asked to appear in examinations conducted by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) if they wish to continue in government service.
A senior health department official maintained that the restructuring aims to standardise hiring and improve service delivery. But for many doctors, the decision feels abrupt and unfair, especially given their years of service in high-pressure emergency wards.
Most of the affected EMOs were hired in February 2018, while a small number recruited in June 2018 have been allowed to continue until their contracts expire later this year.
