KOHAT, October 13,2026: The Director General Health Services (DGHS), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recommended disciplinary action against 26 Grade-17 Medical Officers (MOs) and Women Medical Officers (WMOs) for wilful and prolonged absence from official duty.
In an official letter to the provincial Health Secretary, the DGHS recommended disciplinary proceedings against the doctors, some of whom have reportedly remained absent for one to two years or even longer.
According to the letter, action has been proposed under the Efficiency and Discipline (E&D) Rules, 2011, including dismissal from service.
More than half of the doctors facing the proposed action were Women Medical Officers (WMOs).
The letter states that repeated notices were sent to the doctors at their respective addresses, seeking explanations for their unauthorised absence. However, they neither responded to the notices nor resumed their duties.
The doctors were posted at various government hospitals in Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Swabi, Swat, Karak, Dera Ismail Khan, Abbottabad, Upper Dir, Lower Dir and North Waziristan.
The recommendations have been forwarded to the provincial Health Department for further proceedings under the relevant disciplinary rules which could lead to the doctors’ dismissal from service.