PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court larger bench on Monday reserved judgment on seven writ petitions challenging the enactment of the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act and different steps taken under it, including the establishment of board of governors for the relevant institutions.

The five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel heard lengthy arguments of the lawyers for petitioners and those of the MTIs and provincial government.

It, however, didn’t set any date for the pronouncement of the verdict.

The petitioners include the Teachers Association of the Khyber Medical College, Pakistan Medical Association through provincial president Dr Hussain Ahmad Haroon, All Pakistan Paramedics Association, former medical superintendent of Ayub Teaching Hospital Dr Iftikhar Ahmad, and some nurses and paramedics of MTIs.

Seven petitions had challenged Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act and steps taken under it

Under the impugned Act, passed by the provincial assembly in Jan 2015, so far the provincial government has declared four of the public sector hospitals as MTIs.

These four institutions are Lady reading Hospital Peshawar, Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar, Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar and Ayub teaching Hospital Abbottabad.

Shumail Ahmad Butt, lawyer for the Pakistan paramedics Association, said under the Constitution of Pakistan, it was a federal subject to legislate on research and higher education.

He said Entry No 12 in Part II of the Federal Legislative List states “Standard in institutions for higher education and research, scientific and technical institutions.” He added that it meant that the federal legislature was empowered to make a law in that regard. Mr Butt argued that the impugned MTIRA exclusively dealt with teaching institutions and not with other health institutions, therefore, it was a federal subject.

He argued that the rights already available to those employees of the MTIs who were civil servants and had not adsorbed their services in the institution were safeguarded under article 264 of the Constitution.

The lawyer said an amendment was made to the MTIRA providing for establishment of a surplus pool of employees. He added that earlier a notification was issued by the provincial government for setting up of the surplus pool where those employees would be sent who did not opt for absorption in the MTI.

The lawyer said while the said notification was subsequently withdrawn a provision had still been available in the impugned Act for the surplus pool of employees.

He said the wide-ranging powers had been assigned to the BoG of MTIs.

The lawyer said since the 1999 experiments had been done in the health sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the name of health reforms, the successive governments brought forward their favourite doctors for conducting such experiments.

He said while incentives had been announced for doctors under the new system, no such incentives were announced for paramedics in MTIs totaling around 18,000.

Lawyer for MTIs Arshad Ali said the rights of civil servants were fully protected under the Act and the petitioners had approached the court on basis of apprehensions.

He stated that health was a provincial subject and the provincial legislature was fully competent to legislate in this regard.

During course of proceedings the bench put several queries regarding the simultaneous functioning of the OPD (out patient department) and the institutional private practice (IPP).

Justice Mohammad Younas Taheem observed as to what would be the guarantee that a patient visiting the OPD would not be referred to a medical consultant doing IPP. He observed whether it would not be segregation of patients on basis of rich and poor social backgrounds. Arshad Ali said previously, senior doctor used to remain in OPD hardly from 8am to 12am but now the government had increased their duration of duty from 8am till 4pm.

Advocate Mian Muhibullah Kakakhel and Mushtaq Ahmad Tahirkheli, appearing for PMA and Dr Iftikhar, respectively, also raised the issue of appointment of Dr Nausherwan Burki as member of the BoG of LRH and his subsequent appointment as its chairman contending that his age was 78 and under the rules of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council no person above 70 years of age could hold any post related to health profession.

They contended that under the repealed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical and Health Institutions and Regulation of Health Care Services Ordinance, 2002, separate cadre was available for management of medical institutions and there was no need for introducing a new administrative cadre under the new law.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2015