HYDERABAD: The Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) management advertised the post again this June after the Sindh government did not approve the appointment of finance director in the LUH even after the passage of 18 months since the first ad had appeared.

In response to the new advertisement, 10 candidates, including a lower-grade employee of the LUH, have applied for this coveted post. Now eligible candidates would be shortlisted. Aspirants were supposed to submit their applications before the hospital’s medical superintendent (MS) who would forward the details of the applications to the chairman of the Hospital Management Board, who is the vice chancellor of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), Jamshoro.

The LUH administration had first advertised the post in Oct 2022 and after completion of the process, three names out of the 11 applicants were shortlisted and sent to the Sindh chief minister for approval. But the approval remained pending till the government’s term stood completed and finally electoral process got under way. The caretaker Sindh CM did not accord approval either.

The LUH re-advertised the post in June this year and it was learnt that 10 candidates have applied for it, including Abdul Sattar Jatoi (MA Economics), his son Abdul Majid Jatoi (MA Economics, BE Petroleum & Natural Gas) and brother Abdul Salam Jatoi (B.Com, MA Economics). Salam Jatoi, who was working as ‘registration clerk’ in the LUH, has applied for the post because he holds a degree in MA Economics while his (Sattar’s) son Majid Jatoi is working as municipal officer in Jamshoro currently.

Brother, son also in queue of candidates

Other aspirants are said to be Haroon Kalhoro (MBA Finance, BBA Hons), Abid Shaikh (MA Economics, MBA Finance), Ms Paras Kazi (MBA Finance, BBA), Ghulam Murtaza (B.Com, M.Com, M.Phil), Zaheer Abbas (MBA Finance, MA Economics), Abdul Samad Shaikh (MA Finance, MS Finance) and Asif Ali (chartered accountant).

The Sindh High Court Sukkur bench had removed Abdul Sattar Jatoi as director administration, accounts & development of the LUH on March 3,2023 in view of an order against him passed by the Sindh Services Tribunal, which was upheld by the Supreme Court on the issue of his promotion and re-designated post he was holding for a long time.

The officer was looking after financial affairs of the LUH on the basis of this re-designated post of director administration, accounts & development. It was a clinical side post re-designated by the Sindh government to favour him. After his removal under SHC’s order, the very post in BS-20 was abolished by the finance department on the request of the health department and such intimation was submitted before the court. But the same post in BS-19 is yet to be abolished by the finance department.

According to the advertisement, maximum age limit for the applicant is 50 years on closing date i.e. July 2. The candidate is supposed to have at least 10-year experience of accounts. Post qualification at least eight-year experience in any HEC recognised institute in financial matters in a reputable organisation or from amongst cadre officer of BS-19 having experience of account management.

LUMHS Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Ikram Din Ujjan is currently holding the charge of the post in the LUH under the SHC’s directive order passed on March 3.

The post of the director finance has been filled in tertiary hospitals of Sindh in line with The Sindh Teaching Hospitals (Establishment of Management Board) Act 2020 enacted by the government four years ago. A division bench of the Sindh High Court headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar had called for appointment of the director finance on Sept 21, 2021 within “three months” in all Sindh’s tertiary hospitals. Then health secretary Dr Kazim Jatoi undertook to do this.

Under the 2020 act, the Sindh government created two separate posts i.e., director administration/procurement and director finance for tertiary hospitals of Sindh. The position of director finance is to be filled through a competitive process by the concerned hospital management board headed by medical university/college head. In case of the LUH, the LUMHS vice chancellor is the chairman of the hospital management board.

The LUH has been badly hit by financial indiscipline in last few years so much so that tenders worth Rs912 million were cancelled in Aug 2022 on account of serious financial anomalies and favouritism. Those cancelled tenders were clearly smack of ‘favour’ in which procurement of per kilo flour’s cost was approved at Rs179.89. Even the then deputy commissioner Hyderabad, Fuad Ghaffar Soomro, had written a letter to the Sindh health secretary, seeking forensic audit of LUH’s financial matters of the past five years amidst unending complaints of financial indiscipline.

Then assistant commissioner, Ashraf Sangi as member LUH’s procurement committee had declined to sign annual tenders floated afresh also for procurement of various items for the hospital on grounds of irregularities.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2024