Crisis in KP Healthcare Commission deepens

PESHAWAR: Though the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Healthcare Commission (HCC) was already in crisis due to a host of reasons, primarily for lack of government support, it is perceived now that this so-called autonomous body is set to lose its credibility after the majority of members of its Board of Governors (BoG) were appointed due to their closeness with Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan instead of their credentials.

Sources in the provincial Health Department told The News that Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah has inducted mostly his close friends and relatives in the new BoG, undermining the claim of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership of appointing people to key positions on merit.

“Out of the seven non-official BoG members, four or five are either friends or relatives of the health minister. It is widely believed that the health minister is trying to hijack the HCC by inducting his own people in its decision-making body,” a senior health official revealed.

Pleading anonymity, he said three members in the board are government officials and all decisions are made on the basis of majority.

The previous PTI government had introduced HCC under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Healthcare Commission Act 2015. Its prime responsibility was to regulate healthcare establishments in the public and private sectors of the province.

According to sources, the health minister has decided to remove the chief executive officer (CEO) of the HCC and appoint a new head for the commission.

“The intentions of the health minister may be good but generally it is presumed that he would appoint the chief executive officer of his own choice when he has already inducted his men in the BoG,” said the government official.

He alleged that there were speculations that all eyes were now on several jobs supposed to be announced soon in the commission.

According to officials, the present PTI government didn’t pay attention to the HCC and its needs, thereby weakening its performance.

“Former chief minister Pervez Khattak had pledged to provide Rs102 million to the HHC annually and reduce the amount once the Commission is enabled to generate its own revenues. However, the government last year provided only 50 percent of the fund and for the past nine months it has not been provided with any money,” stated an official of the Health Department. In 2016, the government advertised 29 positions in the HCC but only five officials were recruited, including the CEO, two directors and two additional directors. Among them, one director later quit his job when he got another job. For the past seven months, the commission has been functioning without any BoG. It has established its zonal offices in Peshawar, Bannu, Abbottabad, and recently set up offices in Malakand division.

The zonal office in Bannu has to look after six districts, including Bannu, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Karak, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan, with a four-member staff including a chief inspector, one senior and two junior inspectors. The case of other zonal offices is almost similar.

The commission has to handle the healthcare establishments in seven districts of Malakand region with the help of three people only.

One former official of the KP Healthcare Commission said that the PTI government had claimed to pass maximum laws from the KP Assembly, more than other any other legislative assembly in the country. He added that HCC is the best example of how the PTI government treated the public sector institutions. “The commission could not initiate any planned activity to regulate the healthcare establishments in the province due to lack of government support,” he argued. Interestingly, unlike other BoGs in KP, the BoG members in HCC are being paid Rs25,000 per meeting while Rs10,000 is given to them additionally when members attend meetings of the committees. “Some of the members prefer to be inducted in the sub-committees so they can make money. Besides, they are paid travelling and daily allowances,” said the official.

The new BoG includes Dr Abdur Rahman as its chairman, Dr Sadullah Khan, Dr Imran Khan, Saima Akbar Khattak, a lawyer previously associated with a cellphone company as a legal advisor, Adam Khan, a retired government servant, retired Wing Commander Gohar Javed and Dr Abdul Sabooh, a retired medical superintendent.

The sources said that Dr Abdur Rahman is a friend of the health minister while Dr Sadullah Khan and Adam Khan are his close relatives. Also, the sources claimed that Dr Abdul Sabooh is a friend of the minister’s father. Dr Imran Khan is also stated to be a friend of the minister.

When reached for his comments, Dr Hisham Inamullah said he never used his office for personal interests, adding his priority is to empower the commission so that it could deliver accordingly. However, he confirmed that Dr Sadullah was his relative, saying he was a US-based senior gastroenterologist. “I wanted to utilise his skills,” he added.

“Yes, Dr Imran was my class fellow. He is a friend but is a skilled oral pathologist in the UK and would help us in the commission,” he maintained.

“It is an important body and, therefore, I decided to replace its CEO as the BoG was not satisfied with his performance. The CEO must be a medical doctor,” said Dr Hisham Inamullah. About payments being made to the BoG members, the minister said he would check it with the relevant people.

Asked how the commission could have delivered when the government didn’t provide funds to hire staff, he said that lack of funds was a major issue and they could not arrange funds for their other pending projects.

Previously, the Health Regulatory Authority (HRA) used to regulate the health sector. In 12 years, HRA had registered 2,400 health centres out of 15,000. On the other hand, the HCC in two years listed more than 5,000 centres.