SHC seeks record of salaries of NICVD’s doctors and managerial officers

The Sindh High Court has taken exception to the affairs of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and directed the executive director of the hospital to submit a report with all documentary proof showing the record of the salaries of all doctors and managerial officers working all over the province.

Hearing a petition against the appointment of a managing consultant to the NIVCD, a division bench, headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, directed the executive director to submit a report on whether all the doctors were receiving the non-practising allowance or not.

The court observed that it has surfaced that doctors appointed on different posts are receiving huge salaries, and they have been allowed to practise in the NICVD privately. It said it is to be examined yet whether or not they are also allowed to practise outside the institute.

It further observed that these questions require an answer particularly when the claim of the institute is that it is providing service free of charge. The court said it has been further argued that the NICVD is being funded by the Sindh government, whereas the claim of the hospital is that this is an autonomous body having its own resources and is regulated through an independent board.

It said the picture was not clear with regard to the status of the NICVD as to whether the hospital is of the public sector or the private sector and whether it is running its affairs with its own sources or it is completely funded by the Sindh government.

The court directed the executive director of the institute to appear and submit a report on whether all the doctors, including he himself, were receiving the non-practising allowance. It directed that the report be submitted with all documentary proof showing therein the salaries of all doctors and managerial officers working in the NICVD across the province.

The counsel for the hospital submitted that the managing consultant was no more in the service and the petition had become infructuous. The court observed that the NICVD counsel would be at liberty to file such a statement. It directed the finance secretary to file a complete breakdown of five years with regard to the funds received by the heart hospital.

The SHC had earlier taken notice of the appointment of the managing consultant without any advertisement and lawful procedure, and suspended the notification with regard to that appointment.

Petitioner Mohammad Khalid submitted that the appointment of managing consultant Haider Awan was made in 2015 without adopting the due process of law and no advertisement was published in any newspaper, which was a mandatory requirement. He alleged that the respondent had no consultancy experience nor had he any registered consultancy firm. He requested court to declare the appointment illegal.

The NIVCD submitted in comments that the respondent’s contractual services were acquired in furtherance of the decisions taken in the board meetings of the NIVCD held in May 2015, and after through consideration of the respondent’s proficiency and experience, the contract had been extended from time to time. It was submitted that the remuneration of the respondent was directed to be paid from the NIVCD donation/welfare and/or self-generation in terms of Section 41 of the NIVCD service regulations (revised) 2016-17, and not from the public exchequer.

Hospital officials are also facing a National Accountability Bureau’s investigation pertaining to illegal appointments and misuse of authority in the NIVCD. NAB had earlier informed the court that the NICVD from 2014 to 2020 had received up to Rs32 billion from the Sindh government, but it was still in debt of about Rs7 billion.

A NAB investigator submitted that Rs15 billion had been paid to officers/officials of the NICVD, including doctors and officials on a contract basis, and daily wages from 2014 to 2020, which was above 50 per cent of the total grant received from the Sindh government, and that the percentage kept rising higher and higher every year while expenditure on the treatment of patients kept falling every year.