Senior IMC member resign in protest
January 02, 2014
PESHAWAR: A retired senior bureaucrat and member of the Management Council (MC) of the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), Sahibzada Mohammad Khalid, has resigned in protest at what he termed ‘unreasonable and unceremonious’ replacement of Prof Dr Mohammad Tahir as the chief executive of the hospital.
“Yes, I have resigned from the Management Council of the Hayatabad Medical Complex as a protest. I didn’t know Dr Tahir or other doctors when I was appointed member of the council. However, when the government appointed Prof Dr Tahir as chief executive of the hospital, he proved to be a competent and honest officer but was thrown out after a short period of two months and that too without any reason,” explained Sahibzada Khalid.
Dr Tahir is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s first plastic surgeon and was appointed chief executive of the HMC on September 17, 2013 by the PTI-led provincial government.
Sources in the provincial Health Department said Dr Tahir was in London when the government decided to appoint him as head of the hospital. Two months later, the government on December 6, 2013 decided to replace him with a junior doctor, Prof Dr Mumtaz Ali Marwat, as chief executive of the HMC.
“Before tendering my resignation, I asked other members of the council if they could explain the reasons for sudden replacement of an honest man. When none of them were able to give any reason, I told them that the main purpose of our selection was to work for merit and bring a change and when we can’t do that it is useless to sit there,” Sahibzada Khalid argued.
He said the new chief executive, Dr Mumtaz Marwat, was also sitting in the same MC meeting when he made it clear to him that he had no grudge against him, but the way a senior and honest man was thrown out to pave the way for his appointment showed the government would not be able to bring a change for which it had been voted into power.
Officials of the Health Department said some doctors misled Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai about two senior doctors, Dr Tahir and Prof Dr Arshad Javaid, former chief executive of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH).
“When all forums of the doctors unanimously decided to go on strike in the public sector hospitals against the kidnapping of senior physician Prof Dr Amjad Taqweem, someone among the doctors hatched a conspiracy and told Shaukat Yousafzai that Dr Tahir and Dr Arshad Javaid had instigated the doctors to go on strike, which obviously was not true,” said a senior official of the Health Department.
“Some people responsible for pocketing hospital resources were supposed to be sacked during the PTI government but it didn’t happen and we haven’t felt any difference even after the change of command,” the official noted.
Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, however, stated that he was not satisfied with performance of the doctors who were replaced. There is no doubt that the PTI-led government has been credited for inducting apolitical people in the MCs but it couldn’t honour merit in the appointment of officials on high-profile jobs.
After granting administrative and financial powers to the autonomous public sector health institutions in 2001 under the Autonomy Act and later through Autonomy Ordinance in 2002, the government established MCs for transparent procurement of medicines and medical equipment and for ensuring merit-based recruitment and promotions. In the past, all the provincial governments nominated the ruling party lawmakers as members of the MCs.
Most of MC members in the past served their personal interest, got jobs for their people and secured free treatment for family members and relatives in the hospitals.
In the previous government, all non-official members of the MCs were mostly lawmakers of the Awami National Party and Pakistan People’s Party and their close family members. They were accused of serving own interest instead of focusing on improving hospital affairs and patient care. It was one of the reasons that the PTI-led provincial government decided to dissolve the MCs and form new ones with people of good reputation as members.
Besides three or four non-official members, the MC of each hospital comprises several official members including the chief executive, medical superintendent, deputy secretary health, deputy secretary finance and deputy secretary establishment department.
Efforts were made to seek comments from Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai for this write-up, but he didn’t respond to phone calls.
“Yes, I have resigned from the Management Council of the Hayatabad Medical Complex as a protest. I didn’t know Dr Tahir or other doctors when I was appointed member of the council. However, when the government appointed Prof Dr Tahir as chief executive of the hospital, he proved to be a competent and honest officer but was thrown out after a short period of two months and that too without any reason,” explained Sahibzada Khalid.
Dr Tahir is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s first plastic surgeon and was appointed chief executive of the HMC on September 17, 2013 by the PTI-led provincial government.
Sources in the provincial Health Department said Dr Tahir was in London when the government decided to appoint him as head of the hospital. Two months later, the government on December 6, 2013 decided to replace him with a junior doctor, Prof Dr Mumtaz Ali Marwat, as chief executive of the HMC.
“Before tendering my resignation, I asked other members of the council if they could explain the reasons for sudden replacement of an honest man. When none of them were able to give any reason, I told them that the main purpose of our selection was to work for merit and bring a change and when we can’t do that it is useless to sit there,” Sahibzada Khalid argued.
He said the new chief executive, Dr Mumtaz Marwat, was also sitting in the same MC meeting when he made it clear to him that he had no grudge against him, but the way a senior and honest man was thrown out to pave the way for his appointment showed the government would not be able to bring a change for which it had been voted into power.
Officials of the Health Department said some doctors misled Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai about two senior doctors, Dr Tahir and Prof Dr Arshad Javaid, former chief executive of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH).
“When all forums of the doctors unanimously decided to go on strike in the public sector hospitals against the kidnapping of senior physician Prof Dr Amjad Taqweem, someone among the doctors hatched a conspiracy and told Shaukat Yousafzai that Dr Tahir and Dr Arshad Javaid had instigated the doctors to go on strike, which obviously was not true,” said a senior official of the Health Department.
“Some people responsible for pocketing hospital resources were supposed to be sacked during the PTI government but it didn’t happen and we haven’t felt any difference even after the change of command,” the official noted.
Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, however, stated that he was not satisfied with performance of the doctors who were replaced. There is no doubt that the PTI-led government has been credited for inducting apolitical people in the MCs but it couldn’t honour merit in the appointment of officials on high-profile jobs.
After granting administrative and financial powers to the autonomous public sector health institutions in 2001 under the Autonomy Act and later through Autonomy Ordinance in 2002, the government established MCs for transparent procurement of medicines and medical equipment and for ensuring merit-based recruitment and promotions. In the past, all the provincial governments nominated the ruling party lawmakers as members of the MCs.
Most of MC members in the past served their personal interest, got jobs for their people and secured free treatment for family members and relatives in the hospitals.
In the previous government, all non-official members of the MCs were mostly lawmakers of the Awami National Party and Pakistan People’s Party and their close family members. They were accused of serving own interest instead of focusing on improving hospital affairs and patient care. It was one of the reasons that the PTI-led provincial government decided to dissolve the MCs and form new ones with people of good reputation as members.
Besides three or four non-official members, the MC of each hospital comprises several official members including the chief executive, medical superintendent, deputy secretary health, deputy secretary finance and deputy secretary establishment department.
Efforts were made to seek comments from Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai for this write-up, but he didn’t respond to phone calls.
