PESHAWAR: Grand Health Alliance, an organisation of doctors, nurses and paramedics, has demanded restoration of the positions of civil servants in the medical teaching institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

On Tuesday, the newly-appointed policy board asked the Board of Governors (BoGs) of all 10 medical teaching intuitions (MTIs) through a letter to propose amendments to the regulations in consultation with the stakeholders and share the same with it by August 31.

The policy board is required to bring uniformity in the operations of all the institutions operating under Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act (MTIRA), 2015.

Dr Amir Taj Khan, the chairman of Grand Health Alliance (GHA), however, rejected the board’s decision and demanded that all the illegal steps taken during the last 10 years in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should be reversed and probe should be conducted into out of merit appointments against high salaries in MTIs.

Threaten to go on strike in second week of next month

He said that the reforms process in health sector initiated by the previous government of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf badly affected patient care. “How we can expect any good from the people, who were part and parcel of experimentation in the garb of enforcing MTIRA,” he questioned.

Dr Amir told this scribe that GHA had shared evidence of corruption at the MTIs with the health department and policy board. “More than 2,000 posts of civil servants have been converted into contractual positions on which the MTIs have recruited people.

This has adversely impacted the promotion of civil servants. The posts of civil servants are reflected in budget books, which cannot be converted or abolished according to the law,” he added.

He said that introduction of MTIRA shattered the health system as the patients coming to institution-based practice (IBP) received priority over those, who were visiting the OPD, because the former paid fee in thousands and the latter only Rs20.

Dr Amir said that under MTIRA, the departments in hospitals and medical and dental colleges were headed by junior consultants, who were doing IBP, while the seniors were made their subordinate.

He said that they expected more reforms from the policy board but seeking suggestion from the BoGs was irrational because they had been part of the system and could not go against the steps taken under MTIRA.

“Prior to enforcement of MTIRA, the teaching hospitals were managed by a couple of administrators, called medical superintendents and deputy medical superintendents, but now batteries of managers have been working at high salaries unnecessarily,” he said.

Dr Amir said that most of the budget meant for patient care went to the salaries and perks and privileges of the MTI-recruited staff and the poor people, who received free treatment in hospitals, were the worst-affected.

He said that MTIs hired staff on contractual basis and the employees left their jobs on getting lucrative packages elsewhere due to which the health institutions failed to develop a team of experienced people. “We are also asking the government to look into the recruitment process under which deans, medical, hospital, nursing and finance directors have been given employment in violation of merit,” he added.

Dr Amir said that GHA had decided to observe complete strike in the second week of September if the government didn’t take notice of the embezzlement and abolition of civil servant posts in MTIs.

He said that the existing BoGs appointed by PTI on political basis should be removed as per the instructions of Election Commission of Pakistan. “We want a policy to benefit patients and employees,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2023