By signing of the Career Structure for Health Personnel Ordinance, President Zardari has met a longstanding demand of the doctors working under the federal government. They are given the status of civil servants, with substantial pay raises. What makes the step meaningful is the fact that it was taken after thorough consultation with the medical community. It is now incumbent upon these health practitioners to serve the public in the real sense of the term. The doctors tendency to devote their time and energy to running their private clinics should change now and they should be treating the patients at government hospitals with care. Indeed, the patients misery at government-run hospitals all over the country simply beggars description; they have to wait for long agonising hours before getting a chance to see the doctor for a brief moment. And as reported in press, the cases of doctors doing their job carelessly, for instance, by administering wrong injections and medicines to the patients have claimed a number of lives. It is sincerely hoped that all this would end now. At the same time, while one must appreciate the federal government for looking after the doctors community, it ought to set up more hospitals, provide free medical facilities as much as possible and reach out to the population living in rural areas that does not have access to quality health facilities.