No compromise on health reforms: Imran

Vows action against delinquent doctors

PESHAWAR: Ruling out the privatisation of the public sector health institutions, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Tuesday that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was bound to take action against the doctors and health workers under the Essential Services Maintenance Act for suspending health services.

He said the act was implemented on the directives of the Peshawar High Court (PHC). Speaking at a news conference at Chief Minister’s House here, he said: “We are not privatising the hospitals. We have introduced reforms for which our party was voted to power.”  Imran Khan said that KP government wanted to bring the government hospitals on a par with the private hospitals through reforms.

“A few doctors who are running their private hospitals and clinics are against reforms while 95 per cent of them are supporting the Medical Teaching Institute (MTI) Act,” he said.

Quoting the verdict of PHC, he said the doctors couldn’t stage protest demonstrations on this issue.

Imran Khan said the government imposed the Essential Service Act at government hospitals by following the order of the Peshawar High Court.

Flanked by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Minister for Health Shahram Khan Tarakai, Minister for Higher Education Mushtaq Ghani, Minister for Law Imtiaz Shahid, Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Atif Khan, PTI chief accused PML-N leader Amir Muqam of provoking doctors against the provincial government during his visit to the Hayatabad Teaching Hospital (HMC).

He asked the government to register a case against Amir Muqam for provoking civil servants.“We are not privatising hospitals and colleges, but improving management and system by appointing professionals and transferring powers to Board of Governors in these important sectors like those of developed countries in the world,” he said. 

Opposing the privatisation of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Imran Khan observed the federal government enforced the decision without taking the stakeholders into confidence.

The federal government, he said, used force instead of taking the relevant quarters into confidence. “There are a few people, who are not allowing us to introduce reforms in health sector. They boycotted duties at public sector health institutions to run their business through private clinics,” Imran Khan said. He added that KP government would not compromise on the health issues and vowed to bring improvement in the health sector within short span of time.

The PTI’s chairman said the hospitals could not be improved under the old management system, asking the protesting doctors whether they were willing to get their children treated at the public sector hospitals, which lacked facilities.

He said the provincial government didn’t want to use force policy against the protesting doctors’ community, like federal government against PIA’s employees.  He said that those not happy with MTI Act, should quit service. 

Condemning the killing of a senior trader, he expressed deep shock over the demise of Haji Haleem Jan, who was gunned down by unidentified armed men at his shop in Qissa Khwani Bazaar on Tuesday morning.