PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposed changes to the law on medical teaching institutions, which allow new mechanisms for appointment and dissolution of the teaching hospitals’ boards of governors.

Addressing a news conference after the cabinet meeting here, spokesman for the government Ajmal Wazir said the cabinet approved the draft MTI Amendment Bill, 2020.

He said the amendments provide for the establishment of appellate tribunal to ensure job security of the MTIs’ employees.

The spokesman said the proposed amendments, new mechanism for the appointment and dissolution of the board of governors had also been put in place.

He said the cabinet also approved a mechanism to give pension benefits to those government servants, who had opted to be institutional employees of MTIs.

Proposed extension for six VCs rejected, new appointments ordered

“This decision will benefit 400 senior doctors and other health professionals of MTIs,” he said.

Mr Wazir said the cabinet granted exemption to the energy and power department of the relevant public procurement rules for hiring the consultancy service of an international firm through ‘single sourcing’ to start work on the 188MW Naran hydel power project and 96MW Batta Kundi hydel power project under public-private partnership.

He said the cabinet also approved grant-in-aid for KP Oil and Gas Company Limited (KPOGCL) to work in partnership with other companies for oil and gas exploration in the merged, tribal districts.

Mr Wazir said the cabinet also approved the draft of the KP Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, 2020, to ensure the safety of mine workers and formed a cabinet committee comprising Shaukat Yousafzai, Sultan Mohammad Khan, Abdul Karim and Wazirzada to improve the draft legislation.

He said the cabinet approved the name of Mohammad Ishfaq Khattak as the private member of the board of directors of the Trans Peshawar Company.

The spokesman said the matter of extension in the tenure of six vice-chancellors of public sectors universities of the province was also presented to the cabinet for approval to which the cabinet did not agree and directed the relevant department to come up with new appointments in line with the rules and regulations.

A statement issued here said Chief Minister Mahmood Khan during the meeting directed cabinet members and administrative secretaries to take result-oriented steps to improve the performance of their respective department.

He said all the ministers, special assistants and advisers had been given full authority with regard to the affairs of their respective departments, and as such, they were responsible for the better performance of their departments.

The chief minister said the overall performance of the government was linked with the individual performance of the departments and therefore, all departments should show better performance to ensure good governance.

He directed ministers to go to their respective constituencies soon after the budget session and monitor the government’s initiatives launched to strengthen the health service delivery system to effectively deal the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Mahmood said soon after the budget session, he would hold regular meetings to review the performance of all departments.

He directed the heads of all departments to improve performance and achieve targets.

The chief minister regretted the poor performance of the food department and said strict action would be initiated against all those responsible for it.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2020