BAHAWALNAGAR: The associations of doctors and paramedics have criticised the appointment of the DHQ hospital medical superintendent (MS) as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the district health authority despite, what they claim, facing several cases of corruption and misuse of authority.

Young Consultants Association (YCA) president Dr Ateeq Mushtaq, Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) local head Dr Jawad and paramedics association’s Javaid, in a written statement, announced to move the court against the posting of Dr Inamullah Jamali as the CEO, alleging that the move was a licence to the tainted official to continue his plunder. They said no action had been taken against Mr Jamali despite being nominated in an FIR for corruption, abuse of power and mismanagement. Dr Jamali refutes the allegations leveled by the doctors.

The doctors said a five-member inquiry committee set up by the Bahawalnagar district and sessions judge in April had declared the medical equipment bought by the DHQ hospital for the Covid-19 patients worth Rs2m was of bad quality and overpriced. The doctors said they had to move the court as Jamali was adamant that doctors used the purchased substandard personal protective equipment (PPE) despite several reminders.

Young doctors announce moving court against the posting

DHQ hospital’s logistics officer Arsalan alleged that Mr Jamali had pressurised him for several weeks to approve the substandard PPEs by declaring them of good quality.

In another case of alleged corruption worth Rs19.5m, a first information report (FIR) was lodged against Dr Jamali on June 11 by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE). The doctors said no action was taken against Jamali when he passed, what they called, fake bills worth Rs25m by the end of June.

The doctors pointed out that after an FIR registered by Mr Jamali against five of their colleagues on Aug 23, they had shut down the outpatient department (OPD) till Sept 24 in protest. Referring to an inquiry on the matter by Bahawalnagar AC Munawar Hussain, they said its report held Dr Jamali responsible for torturing doctors, insulting paramedics and harassing female staffers.

According to the health sources, Vehari MS Dr Fazil, Lodhran Health CEO Dr Sajjad, THQ Hospital Haroonabad MS Dr Naeem Atta and Dr Jamali appeared for interviews for the CEO’s slot before the health secretary in Lahore where the senior most Dr Naeem Atta was finalised for the post. However, a Sept 30 health department notification made Dr Jamali the DHA CEO. The sources said PTI minister Shaukat Laleka allegedly used his influence for the CEO’s posting.

Mr Laleka’s spokesperson Umar Zaman said the minister or any of his representatives were not involved in supporting anyone, including Mr Jamali. He expressed surprise at the appointment of the new health CEO despite involvement in corruption and mismanagement.

Dr Jamali did not respond to the allegations for several days. Later, in his version (available with Dawn) to the health secretary in response to the allegations, he said the doctors had approached the court with malafide intent regarding the PPEs purchase before informing him about the standard of the equipment.

About his nomination in the FIR by the ACE, he claimed that he was nominated in the case on the basis of tenders that were awarded prior to his appointment as the MS on Jan 4, 2020. He also claimed to present himself before the ACE for investigation.

ACE Circle and Inquiry Officer Abdul Qayyum rejected the claims of Jamali, saying the MS had processed the biomedical gas tender on Jan 7, 2020. He pointed out fake billing and other anomalies in the award of the tenders. Saying that Mr Jamali had not appeared before the ACE for probe, he said the MS had refused even to receive the notices sent by the establishment.

On passing fake bills worth Rs25m, Dr Jamali gave the clarification to the secretary that the aforementioned bills were passed after verification by the inspection committee set up by the health authority’s CEO Dr Shahid.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2020