Dr Burki reverses decisions of previous policy board of KP MTIs

PESHAWAR: Amid reports that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has not notified the new Policy Board of the medical teaching institutions (MTIs), Dr Nausherwan Burki, claiming to be chairman of the Policy Board, on Tuesday reversed all decisions of the previous board through a notification.

As per the decision of the Policy Board, all the nine Medical Teaching Institutions (MTIs) working under a separate board of governors will now remain open for five days a week instead of six days, which was decided by the previous Policy Board under Prof Dr Ziaul Islam.

The officials of the provincial Health Department told The News that the government had not notified the new Policy Board, including its members and chairman.However, Dr Nausherwan Burki chaired the meeting of the Policy Board and made some important decisions. He reversed the decisions that the previous board had approved.

Though it is another matter whether or not Dr Nausherwan Burki can order the Health Department, he directed the relevant Health authorities to withdraw the notifications issued in the past.

Initially, there was confusion about the authenticity of the notification as the government officials insisted that since the new Policy Board has not been notified yet, there was no possibility for such an important notification by the Policy Board.

When reached, Dr Nausherwan Burki confirmed that he had issued the notification, saying the decisions of the previous Policy Board were reversed as they were not taken with a majority.“The majority of the previous board did not approve these decisions,” Dr Burki claimed.

When reminded that five out of seven members had approved the decisions, Dr Burki argued, “Not to my knowledge”.According to the former chairman of the Policy Board, Prof Ziaul Islam, out of seven, five members of the previous board had approved all the decisions. He said the remaining two members were constantly invited to the meetings but they never participated.

“The two members, one from Shaukat Khanum Hospital Lahore and another from Shifa Hospital in Islamabad had constantly avoided attending any meeting of the Policy Board during our tenure, and as per the MTI law, if a member doesn’t attend three consecutive meetings, he or she can no longer remain the member of the board,” he explained.

The five members, including its chairman Prof Dr Ziaul Islam, Prof Mohammad Hafizullah, Dr Azar Rasheed, Maj-Gen (Retd) Salahuddin Qasim, and the Islamabad-gynaecologist Dr Ghazala attended the board meetings and approved recommendations, following their marathon meetings and consultations with the stakeholders including chairmen of the BoGs, Deans, Medical Directors as well as Hospital Directors.

The previous board had decided to bring a uniform pay structure among the MTIs, as in some MTIs, the packages were exorbitantly higher than other institutions and a big chunk of the budget went to salaries.

According to the notification, its copy is available with The News, Dr Burki has also reversed the decision of the former board.According to Prof Ziaul Islam and other members of the board, the previous caretaker government had approached and advised them to keep the state-run hospitals open for six days a week to facilitate the patients.

The majority of the patients would seek treatment in private hospitals when the hospitals were kept closed two days a week- Saturday and Sunday.“At the Policy Board meeting, held on June 23, 2024, the minutes of the consultative meeting of the Policy Board No.15/PB-MTIS, dated 12th February 2024 (Attached), addressed to you were reviewed and discussed. It became apparent that many of the items which were discussed did not have the approval or endorsement of the majority of the members of the Policy Board,” the notification stated.

It stated that the current Policy Board therefore decided that all the proposals are to be rescinded and the status quo ante vis-à-vis the Regulations is reinstated, specifically the following recommendations/decisions are to be considered null and void:

“Promotion and selection criteria (faculty). This will remain as stated in the Regulations dated 12/3/2020 (Version 1.1/April 2022), as amended on 27/4/2022 (Version 1.1/April 2022) (Appendix 8 as amended by the Policy Board January 2023). IBP: Item (b) will not apply. Working hours: These will remain as stated in the above-noted Regulations (Section 2). The Department of Health Notification No. SO(MTIs)/HD/1- 2/General Misc/2024 dated 14th February 2024 be withdrawn (attached). Uniform Salary / Grade Policy recommendations rescinded”.

Dr Burki also directed the MTIs to install the HMIS Software, donated by SKM for uniformity and inter-MTI compatibility and strictly stopped them from using alternative software.He also decided that since they were not hiring civil servants, therefore the superannuation proposal was cancelled