PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has proposed in the budget to increase taxes on private hospitals and decrease levy on doctors doing private practice in the next fiscal year starting from July 1.

However, doctors have opposed the move of provincial government and launched protest against it.

According to the new taxation regime, private hospitals or clinics having services of10 employees will pay Rs20,000 tax per annum, up from Rs15,000 in the outgoing fiscal year. Private sector health facilities having services of 50 employees will be liable to pay Rs80,000 up from Rs60,000 in the current financial year.

As per the document of excise, taxation and narcotics control department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, professional tax on doctors has been reduced. According to it, specialist doctors running private clinics in Peshawar will payRs40,000 down from Rs80,000 in the current fiscal whereas those practicing medicines in private sector at divisional level will be liable to Rs35,000 as compared to Rs60,000 imposed on them in the current financial year.

A tax of Rs30,000 has been proposed for consultants doing practice at district headquarters level down from Rs50,000 they were to pay in the preceding financial year.

According to documents, specialist doctors doing practice in private setups other than district and divisional headquarters will be paying Rs25,000 than Rs40,000 of the current fiscal.

General medical practitioners, Hakeem, homoeopaths, medical and dental technicians and dentists will pay Rs15,000 per year, down from Rs20,000 in the outgoing financial year. Per annum taxes on health fitness centre/gymnasiums has been reduced from Rs30,000 to Rs10,000 for the ones operating in the limits of provincial headquarters and Rs5,000 for the setups locatedelsewhere in the province.

Chemists, druggists and medical stores will be paying Rs15,000 down from Rs20,000 in the outgoing fiscal year.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Doctors Council (KPDC) has launched protest against taxes imposed by government on medics. A meeting of the council has been convened on Wednesday at health secretariat to record protest against what it calls unjustified imposition of taxes.

In a press released, KPDC said that no increase in salaries of medics, joblessness and nepotism in appointments caused unrest among health professionals across the province.

Spokesman for the council Dr Danyal Ahmed expressed concern over government`s attitude towards doctors and vowed to resist all policies `meant to destroy healthcare infrastructure.

`We have started token strike by wearing black armbands and ward rounds on Monday to prepare doctors for province-wide agitation, thedecision about which will be taken on Wednesday,` he said.

He said that government was trying to privatise hospitals in the name of imposition of Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act and deprive patients of healthcare as well as do away with regular jobs of doctors and healthcare professionals.

Dr Danyal said that they wanted to hold talks with government and resolve the issue for the sake of residents of the province but they wouldn`t hesitate from any protest in case they were denied chance to present their demands.

He said that additional taxation was a matter of concern as doctors already contributed through regular taxes in accordance with the rules applicable to civil servants. He said that imposing such a substantial tax was unjust.

Doctors, he said, had been paying taxes like other civil servants that were deducted from their salaries on monthly basis. He said that new taxes were unjustified and should be withdrawn immediately.