Protest at Nowshera hospital: PHC chief justice orders health dept to resume services

PESHAWAR: Taking suo moto notice of the sufferings of the patients, Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Qaisar Rashid Khan on Tuesday ordered the provincial Health Department to resume services at the Qazi Hussain Ahmad Medical Complex in Nowshera.

According to faculty members, a politically-backed protest was launched at the hospital after the Board of Governors (BoG) appointed managers on merit.

The decision of the BoG irked a local politician belonging to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after his nominees were not considered as they did not meet the criteria.

According to sources, the political leader allegedly wanted the BoG to appoint his nominees to key technical positions without merit.

The provincial government and its Health Department were aware of what was going on in Nowshera but they failed to take its note and rescue the public sector hospital from the clutches of the political leader and his followers.

People were brought from other places to Nowshera to strengthen the protest and create an impression as if the people didn’t want the present admiration to continue.

Another demand of the protesters was the removal of Chairman BoG Prof Dr Nurul Iman who in fact had gathered the courage to stand by merit in the institution.

The faculty members didn’t want to become part of this politically-backed protest and rather desired to provide services to patients but they were not given security.

PHC Chief Justice Qaisar Rashid Khan called senior government officials, including advocate general, Special Secretary Health Dr Farooq Jamil and the hospital director to the court and expressed his displeasure over the plight of patients in Nowshera.

According to officials of the Health Department, they called Prof Nurul Iman to brief the court about the background to the issue that had led to the strike in Nowshera.

The chief justice was shocked when he came to know that a contractor having no knowledge of the health sector was previously made chairman of the Board of Governors of a tertiary care hospital in Nowshera.

The chief justice ordered the Health Department to stop the protest in Nowshera and resume services to patients.

He was surprised and asked how a contractor, Gulrez Hakim Khan, was made the chairman of the BoG, and asked about Dr Jihangir Khan, who the chairman, had allegedly appointed the dean while ignoring all rules and regulations.

The government officials present in the court informed the chief justice that the chairman of the board was now a senior health professional Prof Dr Nurul Iman.

Meanwhile, the Health Department later issued a notification and informed the administration of the Qazi Hussain Ahmad Medical Complex about the suo moto notice of the chief justice and directed them to immediately resume services. The hospital in Nowshera that is now a Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) being run by an independent board badly suffered due to political interference and mismanagement.

A recent audit report had exposed how merit was violated in appointments and promotions in key positions there.