Punjab government abolishes 1,008 emergency medical officer posts, rendering them jobless before Eid

LAHORE: The Punjab government has abolished 1,008 grade-17 contract positions of Emergency Medical Officers (EMOs) across the province, leaving them without employment just days before Eidul Fitr.

The Primary & Secondary Healthcare Department Punjab issued a notification on March 14, 2026, officially eliminating the posts.

Posts created and filled in 2018

According to official documents, the EMO positions were originally created in February and June 2018, and hiring was conducted through interviews for postings at district and tehsil headquarters hospitals on a contract basis. The emergency medical officers were assigned to morning, evening and night shifts in the emergency wards of public sector hospitals across Punjab.

The health department had offered the EMOs a lump sum pay package of Rs150,000, along with a five per cent annual increase.

A senior official said that a majority of the EMOs were hired in February 2018, while others were recruited in June of the same year. He said that the department had initially awarded them a two-year contract.

EMOs told to sit PPSC exam

The contracted emergency medical officers have now been directed to sit for the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) examination. The move effectively ends their contractual employment with the provincial health department, despite several years of service in public hospitals.

The abolition of over a thousand medical posts at one time raises questions about the continuity of emergency healthcare services at district and tehsil level hospitals across Punjab, where these officers had been providing round-the-clock coverage in emergency wards since 2018.

The decision to terminate such a large number of healthcare workers simultaneously, and that too ahead of a major national holiday, has left the affected medical officers in a difficult situation after having served in the public health system for several years on a contractual basis.