ISLAMABAD: An argument started between two PML-N members of parliament on Thursday during a meeting of a standing committee when one of the MNAs accused the government of violating the merit during appointments.

During a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) held in the commission room of the ministry, Council for Tibb President Dr Zabta Shinwari was giving a briefing on the achievements of the council and the chances of progress in tibb when Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, a PML-N MNA, intervened and asked how Dr Shinwari had become president of the council.

“The pick and choose policy should be stopped as there are 20 departments under the ministry of NHS and only in one department - the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan - the head was appointed through the proper procedure. Most departments and corporations were run on an ad hoc basis during the last five years. There is nothing right at the moment,” he said.

NHS Minister Saira Afzal Tarar reacted strongly to this comment and said there was a proper mechanism for the appointment of a head for the Council for Tibb.

Dr Vankwani taunts NHS minister with dissolution of PMDC, which she said was due to former Senate chairman’s politics

“He is speaking the same language which is being used by some others nowadays. The Supreme Court takes suo motu notice if it finds irregularities even in the appointments of BPS 5 officials. Not a single suo motu was taken over appointments in the NHS ministry,” she said.

Addressing Dr Vankwani, she said: “Did someone teach you this before sending you to the committee? I am well aware of what is happening these days.”

Both the parliamentarians went into argument again when Ms Tarar said there should be permanent heads in departments such as the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC), etc.

“Part time heads only attend meetings once or twice a month and then leave,” she said.

Dr Vankwani intervened and said the PMDC had faced internal politics and tussles for four years which the ministry had failed in addressing. The SC had then intervened and suspended the council, he said.

Ms Tarar maintained that it was not true that the PMDC had faced issues due to the ministry. She said the former chairman Senate, Mian Raza Rabbani, had played politics over the issue and become a hurdle in the passage of a bill regarding the PMDC, which had already been passed by the National Assembly.

“We sought opinion from the law division which said the bill should be passed by the upper house but then the chairman suggested the bill be sent to the Council of Common Interests. The bill could not sail through parliament due to which the apex court dissolved the PMDC. That happened because of politics,” she said.

She said the former PMDC management’s performance was ideal and that it had introduced a fee structure for medical students and directed private medical colleges to offer house jobs to their students.

“Even today, I have 10 applications from students in private hospitals who want to do house jobs in government hospitals because private hospitals are not up to the mark. I know where all your talk is coming from,” she told Dr Vankwani.

The SC had dissolved PMDC on Jan 12 and a nine-member ad hoc committee chaired by retired Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan was formed to run the council’s affairs.

The court had directed that the PMDC registrar, Dr Waseem Hashmi, shall continue working.

Talking to mediapersons later, Dr Vankwani said the PML-N government had claimed that the heads of corporations would be appointed on merit and through a proper mechanism but never implemented the same.

“I raised the issue even in front of Mian Nawaz Sharif over the past five years because I was not scared of him. I am head of the Pakistan Hindu Council and Nawaz Sharif needs me, I do not need him. I think the performance of the health ministry is the worst,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2018