Govt assigns KPHCC chief executive additional charge to Dr Maqsood Ali

PESHAWAR: The government on Thursday assigned additional charge of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Healthcare Commission (KPHCC) chief executive to Dr Maqsood Ali, said an official communiqué.

Dr Maqsood Ali is presently serving as director Monitoring and Evaluation Provincial Health Services Academy (PHSA). The chief executive position of the KPHCC had been lying vacant for some time after the previous CEO completed his three years tenure.

According to members of the Board of the Governors (BoG), as per KPHHC Act 2015, the chief executive position is to be advertised and appointment to be made on merit from the market, instead of transferring someone to work as CEO. “Transferring someone to work as chief executive of the HCC is illegal, ultra vires and against the law,” one member of the BoG argued.

According to the BoG members, the HCC had collected “millions of rupees from the registration fee and fine” and they were aware many people in the Health Department had their eyes on this “huge” amount.

They claimed the HCC could not complete the registration process, one of its basic responsibilities, and registered only 50 per cent of the healthcare establishments in the province.

And for this failure, the BoG members accused the present government and particularly Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan, of preventing the board from hiring staff on merit.

After 100 per cent of registration of the healthcare establishments, the KPHCC was supposed to initiate the licensing process and then accreditation, which would remain a dream keeping in mind the prevailing circumstances. The job of erstwhile Health Regulatory Authority (HRA) was inspecting healthcare establishments, sealing and de-sealing.

The HCC’s job was completely different and had to certify health facilities for which standards were developed long ago. The cabinet had approved the standards but these were not implemented due to the tug of war between the health minister and BoG, that he had himself chosen. “The HCC has again become HRA as it is left to the HRA inspectors to operate it as per their will,” a government official at the Health Department remarked.