Situation at ATH, AMC becomes a challenge for PTI leadership

PESHAWAR: The situation in Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) and Ayub Medical College (AMC) in Abbottabad has become a challenge for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s top leadership as certain influential people are again trying to replace some members of the Board of Governors (BoG) of the medical and teaching institution to stop ongoing inquiries and recovery of millions of rupees from present and former employees of the two institutions, sources told The News.

“Some of the BoG members and its chairman are known for their integrity, but they are being forced to stop inquiries and recovery of millions of funds. The board had decided to make those people accountable who were accused of committing corruption of Rs2 billion and misuse of powers. They are stated to be influential and backed by powerful political figures,” a senior government official told The News.

Pleading anonymity, he said the BoG members had unanimously decided to initiate impartial inquiries against all those accused of massive scams and irregularities in different projects. He added that these included purchase of equipment, award of illegal contracts and getting kickbacks in the multi-million Gynaecology and Paediatrics project.

However, he said, the corrupt elements approached their political masters in the PTI and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and successfully stopped the inquiries. “They not only stopped inquiries against themselves but are now trying to replace the BoG members, including its chairman who initiated the investigation. These BoG members were either unaware of the influence of the accused or were willing to burn their boats by touching this sensitive issue,” the official opined.

According to insiders, 17 people were charged with massive corruption by various inquiry committees but none faced any punitive action. “It has become a joke among the people in Abbottabad that two of the accused had already died of natural death and the remaining 15 would die too, but nobody would dare to take action against them and recover the public money meant for providing services to the poor patients,” a senior faculty member in Abbottabad told The News.

It is generally believed that those accused of wrongdoing had utilized some of the looted funds and silenced everybody, allegedly including some members of the media, government officials and accountability organisations.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had fired three BoG members, including the board chairman Mohammad Javed Panni, Brig (R) Khalid Hussain and Col (R) Salahuddin on the plea that the government was not satisfied with their performance and held them responsible for 'inefficiency, poor performance and violation of merit.'

Insiders told The News that the government came under fire for sparing other members of the board, including Dr Asim Yousaf, Najeeb Abbasi, Major General (R) Dr Asif Ali Khan and Tariq Khan, who were allegedly equally involved in all the decisions.

The BoG members of Ayub Medical College had then unanimously selected noted cardiovascular surgeon and former commandant of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC), Maj Gen (R) Dr Asif Ali Khan as chairman of the board.

Interestingly, on that occasion a few BoG members, allegedly close to those facing corruption charges, intended to hold their meeting at Banigala, the residence of PTI chairman Imran Khan in Islamabad. They wanted to influence the members to choose a physician working at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital as chairman of the board.

The majority members who hadn’t agreed insisted on holding the meeting in Abbottabad or at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad. “Maj Gen Dr Asif and a few BoG members had been utilising their energies to ensure transparency in all affairs and follow merit in key selections and appointments, but unfortunately this don’t suit others,” a government official closely monitoring the developments said.

Beside others, the present dean is also facing charges of financial irregularities and misuse of powers. The board using its lawful authority had dismissed the dean and ordered inquiries against her, but the Peshawar High Court later gave her a stay order.

According to sources, it has disheartened some dedicated BoG members and Maj Gen Dr Asif had even made up his mind to resign. These BoG members argued they don’t want to waste their time if they were not able to clean the institutions.

However, the stay order given by the court to the dean was vacated a month ago, but the board has yet to replace the dean. “Some PTI people had even approached the chief minister and health minister to replace the board chairman, but it was good for the institutions as Chief Secretary Mohammad Azam Khan and Secretary Health Mohammad Abid Majeed took a stand on the bold decision taken by the BoG chairman and his team.

“In principle, they refused to remove Maj Gen Dr Asif and thed other BoG members whose honest efforts put the two intuitions on the bright track,” said an insider of the hospital.