As Punjab gears up to combat the worsening COVID-19 crisis, the state cabinet on August 25 approved filling up of 428 regular vacancies of medical officers on an urgent basis.

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It also gave ex-post facto approval to 107 posts already filled for six specialties. The Chief Minister, while chairing the Cabinet meet, said the staff was needed to be on board urgently to tackle the crisis, with the state projected to be headed for a peak in the pandemic. During his last review meeting, he had stressed on the need to identify vacant specialist posts and hold hiring for them immediately.

The recruitment, to be undertaken in the Health Department, would be done by a Special Selection Committee through walk-in-interviews, an official spokesperson said after the Cabinet meeting. The posts for which the post-facto approval has been given form part of the ongoing recruitment process for 323 medical officers (specialists).