PESHAWAR: At a time when Board of Governors (BoGs) of two major Medical and Teaching Institutions (MTIs) have almost completed selection process of important administrative positions, the remaining two hospitals including Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) are lagging behind in implementing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical and Teaching Institutions Reforms Act 2015. These two hospitals could not even advertise the managerial positions in six months. Most members of the medical community had initially opposed health reforms when the government announced the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical and Teaching Institutions Reforms Act 2015. The opposition was stronger in the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), Peshawar, and Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) Abbottabad. The doctors and other health workers had expressed concern over certain sections in the Reforms Act. The LRH is considered the most problematic public hospital, primarily due to the presence of a number of unions and associations of hospital employees and also the internal and external mafias operating there. Still the LRH took lead over the other medical institutions by advertising the administrative positions of medical director (MD) and hospital director (HD) after the government declared the four tertiary care hospitals as Medical and Teaching Institutions (MTI) on March 26 and appointed their Board of Governors (BoGs). It has almost completed the selection process of the MD and the HD, though it has yet to advertise the other important positions of director finance and director nursing. The director finance has occupied this position for the past few decades. He reportedly prevented advertisement of this important position whenever some chief executive attempted to do so in the past. After LRH, the ATH in Abbottabad was the second medical institution that advertised not only positions of MD and HD, but also those of director finance, director nursing and secretary BoG. The positions were advertised on July 24 and last date for submission of application is August 15. However, the BoGs have yet to complete the groundwork for hiring medical director in the Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC). Like LRH, KTH is also facing pressure from different unions and associations of employees. Most are usually misused by the hospital authorities for settling scores with the government and Health Department. The KTH BoG comprises of Dr Faisal Sultan, chief executive officer of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital Lahore, Shahana Mehmood, general secretary Floral Art Society, Shah Jehan, former director management sciences, Mohsin Khan, chairman Institute of Management Sciences Hayatabad, and Dilroz Khan, a close friend of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and chairman of the Chief Minister’s Complaint Cell. Dilroz Khan was the only one whose name was not recommended by the search committee, but he managed to become the BoG member of the KTH. Sources told The News that most of the influential doctors in the KTH and HMC are against reforms and one way or the other they are creating hurdles for the BoGs and the government to implement the reforms. “There are strong lobbies in these hospitals. The administration of the two institutions is publicly opposing reforms. They hold meetings in their respective institutions where elements vehemently opposing the change are invited to devise a strategy to thwart the reforms agenda. Unfortunately, the BoGs are relying on those elements to help implement reforms,” a senior KTH faculty member told The News. Pleading anonymity, he said that the BoGs in KTH and HMC came into being on March 26, but failed to do their basic work to hire the MD, HD and other important office-holders. “The appointment of MD and HD is the most basic component in the Reforms Act. Actually people serving against important positions in these hospitals don’t want change and continue to defend the status quo,” he noted. It will take at least three months for the BoGs of the two hospitals to hire the required persons if these positions are advertised now. Another faculty member in the HMC said that the HMC like other public sector hospitals has administratively collapsed due to lack of a proper system. “The present administration has lost interest and is waiting to be replaced by regular staff. I had not seen this hospital in such a pathetic condition. Forget about the medical staff, the sanitation and support staff has even stopped performing duty,” he lamented. Interestingly, the chairmen of the BoGs during inaugural meetings had pledged to establish full-pledged pharmacies within their respective institutions and computerise hospitals, but none have been able to fulfill their commitment in six months. Before establishing pharmacies, the BoGs would have to get rid of the existing pharmacists who have a vested interest to preserve the status quo. When contacted, Faisal Sultan, chairman BoG KTH, admitted that the selection process of MD and HD had been delayed for different reasons. However, he said work would be launched quickly to complete the selection process.
