Petition against Health Dept letter: PHC issues notices to health secretary, others

ABBOTTABAD: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Circuit Bench has issued notices to secretary Health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and chairman of Board of Governors Ayub Medical Institute (AMI), directing them not to take any action against the petitioners in the light of a letter by Health Department till decision in the case.

The bench comprising Lal Jan Khattak and Arshad Ali Shah issued the notices in the writ petition filed by senior doctors of Ayub Medical College including Prof Dr Salim Wazir and Dr Umar Hayat.

The petitioners challenged the letter by Health Department to chairman of the BoG AMI, saying E & D rules were not applicable to employees of AMI, as all the Medical Teaching Institutions in the province have adopted these rules.

The letter was sent in the context of BOG’s action to implement an inquiry conducted by Provincial Inspection Team in 2014 into the construction and purchase of equipment of Gynae/Paeds wards. The BoG had proceeded as per E & D Rules 2011 against those recommended for disciplinary action by the team.

The provincial Health Department had written to the chairman Board of Governors (BoG) Ayub Medical Institute (AMI) that Efficiency and Discipline (E&D) rules are not applicable to employees of autonomous and semi-autonomous institutions.

This will open a Pandora’s Box as all the Medical Teaching Institutions in the province have adopted these rules.

The letter, signed by the Deputy Secretary Tariq Khan on November 30, 2017, failed to elaborate as to what rules were relevant in this case. The letter was sent in context of BoG’s action to implement an inquiry conducted by Provincial Inspection Team in 2014 into the construction and purchase of equipment of Gynae/Paeds wards. The BoG had proceeded as per E&D Rules 2011 against those recommended for disciplinary action by the Provincial Inspection Team.

Documents available with The News show that after the enactment of Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) Act 2015, the BoG in its second meeting held in June 2015 had adopted KP E&D Rules 2011 and Service Rules owing to non-availability of such essential rules in the MTI Regulations.

The meeting was chaired by Rashid Ahmad, ex-secretary establishment, and attended by nominees of health, finance and establishment and administration departments.

In a subsequent meeting of BoG in August 2015, it was decided to implement Provincial Inspection Team inquiry and to proceed against about 20 employees as per KP E&D Rules by holding formal inquiries and appointing a three-member committee of senior professors conforming to all the details of E&D Rules. Statements of allegations/charge sheets were issued to all as per relevant clauses to complete formal inquiries against individual employees.

All the processes were ordered by the chairman BoG Rashid Ahmad within the meanings of E&D Rules as adopted by the BoG.

Subsequently, the inquiry committee proceeded against individuals by obtaining their statements and other evidence. They also asked for extension, which was granted. They submitted their reports in January 2016. The reports were discussed at a meeting of BoG in March 2016 wherein the Board agreed with the findings of the inquiry committee.

The BoG noted that they wanted to operationalise the Gynae/Paeds wards. Since then, some elements were trying to put spanners in the work and so far the Gynae/Paeds wards is not being operationalised.

The question is what prompted the Health Department to write a letter on November1, 2017 and the said letter on November30, 2017 for reopening the inquiries settled in March 2016.

The dates of the letters are interesting as they fall just before the BoG meetings. These BoG meetings were held in Abbottabad on November 4 and December 2 and chaired by Major General (r) Dr Asif Ali Khan.