PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department has lifted the ban on new recruitment and procurement of equipment in the Mardan Medical Complex (MMC).Health Minister Syed Qasim Ali Shah had earlier banned recruitment and procurement in the MMC.
The minister has now directed the Health Department to withdraw his earlier directives about the ban. This correspondent has obtained a copy of the notification.The minister had earlier told The News that the Board of Governors (BoG) was going too fast and he wanted to stop it from being too fast.
Defending the ban, he had stated that the board had advertised so many positions, without prior consultation, saying the government lacked funds for these positions.According to sources, certain senior party leaders and particularly Prof Dr Nausherwan Burki, chairman of the Policy Board, convinced the health minister to lift the ban on recruitment and procurement in Mardan.
The sources in the Health Department said it was not the decision by the health minister, but a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker from Mardan had approached him for the ban on recruitment and procurement in the MMC.
“The health minister was innocent in this case. A PTI lawmaker from Mardan had approached him and made a flimsy statement about the proposed recruitment in Mardan to serve his vested interest,” an official in the Health Department said.
Pleading anonymity, he said the lawmaker had even mentioned the name of a senior PTI leader from Mardan, claiming that MNA Mohammad Atif Khan wanted the BoG to consult him on important matters, particularly the recruitment of administrative officers in the MMC.
Atif Khan, when approached, not only denied his interference in the hospital matters but also dispelled the impression that he would ever ask for any posting in the hospital or elsewhere in the government without merit. He advised the officials to check with him or his team if someone misused his name.
The sources said that the same lawmaker wanted to show his influence to the board members so that they could not refuse him in case he approached them for his nominees.According to sources, this PTI lawmaker from Mardan had played a negative role in the past and developed differences between Atif Khan and former chairman BoG, Dr Mohammad Javed, when he (Dr Javed) attempted to make some decisions.
The provincial government has recently appointed some new members of the hospital boards.Prof Dr Arshad Javaid, former vice chancellor of the Khyber Medical University was appointed as chairman of the MMC board.
MTI Mardan has been facing a staff shortage for the last two years, including nurses, demonstrators, and faculty members for medical and dental colleges, trainee registrars, junior registrars, technicians, and a few IT positions.
After lifting the ban on recruitment by the present government, the BoG decided to advertise all the technical positions, which were either previously advertised or lying vacant, on the advice of the top management of MTI Mardan.