Punjab Caretaker Minister for Primary and Secondary Health Care Dr Jamal Nasir announced that the Punjab government was recruiting over 1,000 new doctors to address the shortage of doctors in government hospitals.
The minister said that the recruitment process for 1,045 doctors was being initiated and advertisements seeking applications from interested candidates will be published soon. He further revealed that applications will be received online, in order to ensure credibility of the recruitment procedure.
Dr Nasir said no recommendations will be made for the recruitment of any doctor and recruitment will be based solely on merit.
He added that legislation will be passed to provide protection to doctors and staff during duty hours.
He urged the doctors that they should consider their work as worship and not as a job only.
Marks for interview have been excluded to make the recruitment process transparent in all respects. Moreover, a collision between a passenger coach and a tractor-trolley claimed five lives and left several other passengers injured.
Local officials said the coach was en route from Pakpattan to Faisalabad when it rammed into the tractor-trolley from the rear near Gobindpura Stop. Local people said the loud crash was heard from a considerable distance.
Passengers of the coach and the driver of the tractor were among the casualties.
When Rescue 1122 teams arrived at the scene, tractor driver Anwar, 55, from Mianwali had already lost his life. The coach conductor Tariq from Rawalpindi, Zubair from Tandlianwala, Yasin and Mushtaq from Marzi Pura died while being shifted to hospital.
The injured included Saeed, 55, Aqiba, 40, and Abid, 54, residents of Dipalpur, and other passengers.
Police said they had informed the families of the deceased about the accident and also started an investigation.
Meanwhile, at least 16 people were killed and 1,277 injured in 1,168 road traffic crashes (RTCs) across Punjab during the past 24 hours.
Of the injured, 661 people with serious injuries were shifted to hospitals, while 606 with minor injuries were treated at the sites by Rescue Medical Teams. As many as 76 per cent of the road accidents in the province involved motorbikes.
