OUR STAFF REPORTER LAHORE Stressing upon the government to avoid violating merit while changing doctors cadre, various organisations have suggested that the General Cadre doctors should be posted as Senior Registrars instead of direct appointment as Assistant Professors. Addressing a press conference at Lahore Press Club on Tuesday, representatives of the Medical Teachers Association, Young Doctors Association, Postgraduate Doctors Association and PMA Punjab (Equity) contended appointments of MOs, WMOs, SMOs, SWMOs, APMOs and APWMOs as Assistant Professors would cause a serious resentment among the medical community, adversely affecting the service delivery at the teaching hospitals. MTA General Secretary Dr Tehseen Riaz said that these medics should be placed at the start of the Teaching Cadre to avoid disturbing seniority of the SRs. Direct appointment of MOs as APs will cause a serious blow to the SR Cadre. The SRs have requisite teaching experience and they have the first right to be posted as APs. The Government should first appoint the General Cadre doctors as SRs so that seniority of the SRs was not disturbed, said Dr Tehseen Riaz added. He said some medics were blackmailing the government by misusing the PMAs platform, which has no legal status. He said that the body has devised a formula to benefit some doctors in general cadre. He said that there was no cut off date in the original summary submitted by the government before the Lahore High Court but some vested interests introduced the same in the second one to benefit friends. He said that it was a pity that even MOs were part of the interview panel to evaluate competence of SRs. He stressed upon constituting selection board for appointment of MOs as SRs and for promotion of SRs as APs. He said that double promotion of MOs by bypassing SRs would create an atmosphere of protest at teaching hospitals. He said that the MTA, YDA and other organisations would hold doctors convention at Services Hospital on July 16 to take the community into confidence and to devise future strategy. To a question about the future course of action if demands of the doctor organisations were not fulfilled, he said the MTA and YDA would launch a protest at the Teaching Hospitals. He, however, assured that it would be ensured that the protest did not damage any patients care.