ISLAMABAD: A member of the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health Services informed the parliamentary panel on Thursday that the former health secretary allegedly sent six summaries to the prime minister during the caretaker government while bypassing the caretaker health minister, Dr Nadeem Jan. The summaries pertain to an increase in the prices of drugs and the registration of a medical college.

During the meeting, Dr Darshan claimed that Health Director General Dr Baseer Khan Achakzai brought the issue to the notice of the minister, but he was removed from his post and made an OSD (officer on special duty). The DG has not been restored even after a year, he said, adding that the ministry should immediately call Dr Achakzai and resolve the matter.

“The ministry should call him, listen to him, and address the issue. His crime was that he pointed out that summaries were moved to the PM, bypassing the health minister,” he said.

Dr Baseer told Dawn every summary has to mention that the “minister has seen and authorised the summary” but six summaries were sent to the then-prime minister without taking the minister into confidence.

MNA says whistleblower made officer on special duty, without pay for a year

“As I had pointed out as a whistleblower, Dr Jan took the issue with then PM Anwaarul Haq Kakar. The summaries included raising the prices of medicines and also the registration of a medical college. However, the-then secretary removed me from the ministry, claiming that I belonged to Balochistan and did not have the right to get absorbed in the ministry,” he said.

According to Dr Achakzai, he was absorbed in the National Institute of Health (NIH) in 2011 and an ordinance in 2014 was promulgated to absorb 16 officers from different ministries in the federal government, and it also contained his name.

The health ministry sent my name for promotion as a permanent employee twice but the secretary sent me to Balochistan, he said, adding that he approached the Islamabad High Court, which decided in his favour. The Election Commission of Pakistan also declared his transfer illegal, stating that an officer could not be transferred during the interim set-up, he said, adding that he had been OSD since then and his salary had been withheld as well.

According to a brief submitted to the parliamentary committee, the ministry wrote a letter to the Government of Balochistan inquiring about the status of Dr Baseer Achakzai in the provincial records and the provincial government confirmed his absorption in the federal ministry. The provincial government further said that his name had been struck off from the seniority list of the Balochistan government employees. However, the bigwigs in the Ministry of Health still ignored this.

The meeting of the NA panel was chaired by Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani. It was attended by MNAs Zahra Wadood Fatemi, Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro, Dr Shaista Khan, Dr Darshan, Sabheen Ghoury, Dr Nikhat Shakeel Khan, Aliya Kamran, Farah Naz Akbar, Ch. Muhammad Shahbaz Babar, Nisar Ahmed, Raja Khurram Shehzad Nawaz, Shabbir Ali Qureshi, Shaista Pervaiz, and Syed Rafiullah. PM Health Coordinator Dr Malik Mukhtar and senior officers from the health ministry also attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2024