PHC suspends secretary health’s notice on PPHI funds

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday suspended the secretary health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa notice to return allocated funds for the People’s Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI) to the government.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Lal Jan Khattak sought reply from the secretary health and others before the next hearing. The bench issued directives in a writ petition filed by PPHI Programme Director Shakeel Ahmad and other employees through their lawyer Sahibzada Asadullah.

He submitted that the secretary Health on December 1 issued a notice in which it was stated that all the funds allocated for the PPHI would be returned back to the government.

He argued that by returning the funds, the salaries would be stopped to the PPHI employees and it would affect other activities of the organisation. He termed the act of the respondents illegal and requested the court to declare it void.

Earlier, the PHC had also stayed termination of the doctors and employees working under the PPHI in various writ petitions after the provincial government decided to close the PPHI since June 30, 2016.