Peshawar:  More than 225 doctors, including medical officers, emergency medical officers and specialists, appointed by the government to improve patient care in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) have not received their salaries for the past four months, media reports said on Saturday.

Authorities blamed lack of funds for the nonpayment of salaries.

Officials told Dawn that those medics were recruited in April 2021 under the Accelerated Implementation Programme (AIP) to cater to the needs of the people in tribal districts.

They told the newspaper that the AIP was approved by the federal cabinet to employ staff members for many departments in the region after the tribal region’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The officials said the government had sanctioned 300 positions of medical officers with a monthly package of Rs200,000.

They said 283 appointments were made but the doctors either resigned or were terminated for legal reasons bringing the tally down to 172.

The officials said the government had also announced 219 positions of emergency medical officers (EMO) with a monthly salary of Rs300,000, but the department didn’t find the doctors in required number and filled 36 posts only.

They said under the same programme, 100 posts of medical specialists were approved against the monthly payment of Rs450,000, but only 18 of them were filled.

The officials told the newspaper for the last five months, the appointees hadn’t been paid salary due to the unavailability of funds with the provincial government.