PHC directs LRH to reinstate paediatrician or face action

PESHAWAR: A three-member bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) has directed administration of the Lady Reading Hospital to implement the court orders within 24 hours about reinstating a noted paediatrician Prof Musa Kaleem, otherwise the court would cease all bank accounts of the oldest health facility of the province.

The LRH administration had terminated Prof Musa Kaleem a few years ago on charges of fake attendance.

The paediatrician had challenged his termination in the Peshawar High Court and got himself reinstated though court orders in January this year.

The LRH administration had, however, refused to reinstate Prof Musa Kalim and rather challenged the original ruling both before the tribunal and the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

It irked the senior paediatrician and he again went to the court and informed the bench about the whole situation.

The three-member bench took serious note of the situation and gave a 24-hour to the LRH administration to either implement the court orders or face ceasing all funds and bank accounts of the largest health facility of the province.

There were reports that the acting dean of the hospital had resigned after receiving the court orders as according to insiders, the dean wasn’t in favour of taking confrontation with the court.

“The acting dean belongs to a very respectable family and she would never like to appear in the court in such matters. She had sent her resignation to the Board of Governors but chairman of the board Dr Nausherwan Burki didn’t accept her resignation,” an insider of the LRH administration told The News on condition of anonymity.

According to sources, it is decided to implement the court orders regarding reinstatement of Prof Musa Kalim to avoid further court litigation.

According to sources, since the acting dean is on three-day academic leave, Dr Hamid Shehzad, associate dean and presently working as acting dean, is supposed to sign reinstatement orders of Prof Musa Kalim and thus implement the court orders in letter and spirit.

The LRH administration would need to submit the reinstatement order of the paediatrician to the court today (Thursday), otherwise all its bank accounts would cease.

Prof Musa Kalim is due to retire next month from service. He spent most of his time in court litigations, for which he held the government and hospital authorities responsible.

He has always been very vocal and critical of the so-called health reforms of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government that introduced various administrative changes in the system. Prof Musa Kalim had given a tough time to Prof Dr Nausherwan Burki, architect of the much-publicised health reforms in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, initially when he launched his agenda in 2014.

It was obvious that Prof Musa Kalim will have to pay the price for showing the courage and publicly confronting the most powerful man in the shape of Dr Burki, also known as the de-facto health minister in KP.

He, however, didn’t lose courage as he would always say his struggle was for the entire medical community and their rights.

About the court’s final warning to the LRH administration, Dr Nausherwan Burki argued that: “My understanding is that the institution appealed the original ruling both before the tribunal and the supreme court and were waiting for the results of the appeal.”

He said now they must implement the tribunal order and, “I believe they are doing so. There was no deliberate attempt to delay matters beyond appealing the rulings and procedural matters.”

Dr Burki said the dean had applied for leave some time ago and for a legitimate academic purpose completely unrelated to this case.

Also, there were rumours that Dr Nausherwan Burki had resigned but it was not true, though some senior officials told The News that he may quit in case Prime Minister Imran Khan lost his government in the center.

“PM Imran Khan is his power center and if he doesn’t remain in power, Dr Burki will lose his influence in KP,” he argued.