A prolonged slowdown in the promotion process of doctors in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has left more than 1,440 posts vacant across the provincial health department, aggravating staff shortages and deepening the strain on an already overburdened healthcare system, sources said on Tuesday.

The vacancies span the management cadre, general cadre and dental surgeons, largely due to prolonged delays in the promotion process.

Sources said lack of progress has pushed the health sector into a state of serious administrative and service-level distress, prompting fresh instructions to expedite the process ahead of the next meeting of the Provincial Selection Board (PSB).

According to sources, the provincial health directorate has once again been directed by doctors’ organisations and the secretary health to urgently complete working papers and forward doctors’ promotion cases for consideration by the PSB.

Available departmental records show that out of 562 sanctioned posts in the management cadre from Grade 18 to Grade 20, as many as 422 remain vacant, including 286 posts in Grade 18, 116 in Grade 19 and 20 in Grade 20.

In the general cadre, there are 2,245 sanctioned posts, of which 971 are still lying vacant. These include 621 Grade 18 posts, 301 Grade 19 posts and 51 Grade 20 posts that could not be filled due to delays in promotions. Similarly, 47 posts of dental surgeons are also vacant across different grades.

Breakdowns show that among dental surgeons, 11 out of 499 sanctioned Grade 17 posts, 25 out of 76 Grade 18 posts, 9 out of 50 Grade 19 posts, and 2 out of 11 Grade 20 posts remain unfilled.

The sources said the Establishment Department had formally written to the health department on August 28, 2024, seeking complete seniority lists and working papers to fill vacant posts through the promotion quota.