Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar on Thursday lambasted provincial Health Minister Dr Saad Niaz for “failing to improve the performance of healthcare facilities” after he accused the former of “interfering” in his department.

Differences over the cancellation of a multibillion-rupee tender have created serious rifts between Baqar and Niaz.

Sources told Dawn that the tender, which pertains to the purchase of four robotic systems for the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Gambat Hospital and Liquat University of Medical Sciences Hospital, was last month cancelled by the caretaker health minister on the grounds that the robot-assisted procedures were too costly and should not be used for routine surgeries.

The sources that an influential party was involved in the tender process and certain quarters were allegedly pressuring the health minister to change his mind.

Apparently, they said, the chief minister was not satisfied with the health minister’s objection and on Tuesday he had paid a visit to the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) and received a briefing on the utility of robotic surgery there.

The source said that senior government officials had conveyed to the health minister to reverse his decision as the tender was floated during the tenure of the previous PPP-led government and that the caretaker set-up was not authorised to take such a decision.

On Wednesday night, the health minister issued a statement, saying the decision to stop the purchase of robots was taken in the light of expert surgeons. He claimed that irregularities were also noted in the purchase of robotic systems.

“I have informed the chief minister of the whole situation. Even, then he interfered in the matter. The chief minister took a unilateral decision and went to SIUT and kept us uninformed about the whole situation.

“We are trying to improve the state of healthcare in the little time given to us for which we need support of the chief minister and not interference,” Niaz stated.

A statement issued by the Chief Minister House on Thursday said that Niaz had “failed to improve the performance of health facilities under his department and was highly offended when he was made accountable”.

The statement said that the interim health minister had issued “irresponsible and baseless statements” which needed to be clarified.

It said that CM Baqar had visited offices, schools and health facilities with the aim of “improving their performance”.

“The chief minister, keeping in view the poor and pathetic condition of the health facilities, decided to convene four meetings to review their performance as he reviewed the management of schools, colleges, and revenue offices.

“Surprisingly, the health minister had three review meetings concerning his department cancelled. Finally, when the fourth meeting was held, he did not attend it,” the statement said. It also alleged that Niaz was trying to post his “favourite health secretary” so that he could “carry forward his personal agenda”.

It claimed that Niaz, instead of focusing on the performance of healthcare facilities, was “wasting his time and energy to settle his personal scores” and did not spare the SIUT from his criticism.

The statement said that the language used by the health minister for the chief minister was “deplorable and reflects his mindset”.

“The caretaker chief minister wants to improve the condition of health facilities so that they can provide the best healthcare to the needy people of the province. As a matter of fact, the chief minister has always supported the ministers and their departments so that they can perform their best for the public. However, the caretaker chief minister issues necessary instructions from time to time for the efficient performance of the departments,” the statement said.

It added that Baqar would spare “no minister, secretary or any other official” if they were found to be inefficient or negligent.

Baqar unhappy with health dept’s performance

A day earlier, a meeting was held at the CM House, where Baqar reviewed the performance of the health department. While several officials including caretaker Law Minister Omer Soomro, Chief Secretary Dr Fakhre Alam, Health Secretary Dr Mansoor, Jinnah Sindh Medical University Vice Chancellor Dr Amjad Siraj, JPMC Executive Director Prof Shahid Rasool and Prof Anwar Naqvi of the SIUT attended the meeting, the health minister was conspicuous by his absence.

Sources said that the health minister arrived at the CM House, had a brief conversation with the chief minister prior to the meeting and decided not to be a part of it.

“The health minister never came to the meeting, which had been postponed thrice on his request. Reports suggesting that he left meeting are not true,” a spokesperson of the CM House had clarified.

During the meeting, the chief minister had expressed his displeasure over the performance of the provincial health department.

According to a statement issued by the CM House, Baqar had referred to his recent visits to hospitals in the province and observed that most government hospitals/health facilities were in a “total mess”.

“During my visits to government hospitals right from Karachi to Sehwan and up to Sukkur, I found these facilities in a total mess. Male and female patients were kept without segregation into the emergency wards and most of the staff members were absent when checked the attendance registers,” he had said.

He had stated that the provincial government had allocated Rs234.29 billion for the health department for the financial year 2023-24, out of which Rs53.17bn had been earmarked for operational expenditures.

“Are we using the budget in the public interest properly by repairing and maintaining equipment,” he had questioned.

The chief minister had expressed his displeasure that despite his clear instructions the health officers were not conducting inspections of the government health facilities.

“You have director general health, directors, district health officers and even the directorate of inspection but even then no inspection has been carried out so far,” he had told the health secretary. Baqar had directed him to improve the inspection system and keep posting inspection reports.