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Thursday March 28, 2024

Recruitment in MTI Nowshera: Audit report reveals nepotism and blatant law violation

By Mushtaq Yusufzai
January 18, 2022

PESHAWAR: The external audit of Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) Qazi Hussain Ahmad Medical Complex Nowshera has revealed a gross violation of merit in recruitments and appointments.

It found that the institution had suffered due to political interference, saying all meetings held between 46th to 56th of the Board of Governors (BoG) were without a quorum and thus decisions taken in those meetings were illegal and null and void.

The News has obtained a copy of the audit report.It is worth mentioning that Sehat Sahulat Card and the Nowshera Medical College (NMC) are yet to be audited. The auditors had found that major important decisions were made in meetings held between 46th to 56th, including the creation of posts, approval of recruitment, promotion, re-designation, award and extension of contracts.

The institution had been plagued with unlawful processes since its inception.A weak commitment on the part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and undue political influence of the Nowshera-based political leadership of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), particularly in the constitution of the Board of Governors (BoG) in the past has been the root cause of failure of this flagship programme (health reforms) of the government.

The audit of MTI Nowshera shall be an eye-opener for the provincial government and PTI Nowshera-based politicians. A lack of insight or unfair oversight of the provincial government to allow a one member BoG, headed by Gulrez Khan to run the tertiary care hospital has taken its toll.

Gulrez Khan was a contractor by profession and had zero knowledge about the health sector.He had alone made all the important decisions when all other members of the BoG refused to work with him after he didn’t take them into confidence during the decision-making process.

Besides many other irregularities, that allegedly took place during his tenure, Gulrez Khan had appointed Dr Jehangir Khan as Dean of the NMC for five years without even advertising the position as required in the MTI Act.

Dr Jehangir Khan was an influential person and allegedly employed over two dozen of his family members and relatives in the hospital and medical college.

“The 46th to 56th BoG meetings were without a quorum and all decisions taken in those meetings are illegal including the creation of posts, approval of recruitment, promotion, re-designation, award and extension of contracts. Apart from the illegality due to lack of Quorum, recruitment was effected in violation of prescribed manners. A sample analysis of 167 daily wagers revealed that all these appointments were in violation of prescribed manners, illegal and caused undue financial strain,” it has been noted in the audit report.

The report stated that the creation of the post of senior storekeeper was illegal and subsequent promotion of the employee against that post was also illegal.It has been found that sample analysis of 62 contractual employees on fixed pay showed that their contract had expired and yet they were paid, costing the institution Rs55.5 million per year.

A sample analysis of 86 medical officers revealed that the appointments were illegal as none of them met the requirement given in the regulations or in the advertisement.“Ward clerks, data entry operators and ward attendants were recruited without defined criteria. A civil engineer was illegally hired in violation of defined criteria. Similarly, illegal extension in the contract was awarded to contractual employees as the BoG was lacking a quorum.

Appointment of two office assistants was illegal and in violation of the regulations,” the auditors explained. Similarly, it was noted that seven pharmacists were unlawfully recruited in violation of the defined criteria.

It was ironic to note that 19 files of the employees were missing, raising doubts about the processes involved and record-keeping, the report stated.It said that a junior assistant was selected at the age of 40 years while the required age was 25-35 years. The hiring of a civil engineer and subsequent extension in contract was illegal.

The report mentioned that no-objection certificates (NOCs) to civil servants were issued unlawfully by the hospital director to appease the local political elites. “The deputy director administration was unlawfully recruited and awarded illegal up-gradation,” the audit report noted.

It is worth mentioning that the provincial government had failed to take note of irregularities in the MTI Nowshera allegedly by a single-member BoG and caused heavy damage to the exchequer and the institution as well.

According to officials, there were a limited number of sanctioned positions but hundreds of people were employed during Gulrez Khan’s tenure.The insiders claimed that every position had a price, alleging that BPS-17 and above was sold for Rs1 million and class-IV for Rs3,00000.

“There was a broker serving as Class-IV in the hospital and used to facilitate the selling of Class-IV jobs. He got jobs for two of his brothers and purchased a residential plot at the ASC Colony Nowshera for Rs10 million,” a senior official privy to developments in the hospital told The News.

Most of the irregularities surfaced recently when the current BoG took over the institution three months ago and is willing to take up the daunting task of cleaning the institution of corrupt practices.However, will the local political elite allow this or the provincial government would stand behind the BoG, only time would tell.