ISLAMABAD: The first phase of the prime minister’s programme for hepatitis prevention and control was launched in August 2005. After this was implemented successfully, the government allocated Rs14 billion for the second phase of the project, which started in November 2010. Under this phase, the Centre for Liver Diseases and Liver Transplant (CLDLT) was established in Islamabad.
Here, I would like to raise questions about certain aspects of this project. Why is there still no separate building for the centre? Why are its employees deprived of their salaries despite being punctual and hard working? And lastly, is the goal of performing liver transplants being achieved by the CLDLT?
To answer these questions, we have to go back to May 2011, when applicants who wanted to work for the CLDLT were recruited on merit — they had passed the written test and cleared the interview, contrary to the wishes of the administration of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences that wanted its favoured ones to be recruited.
Since then, the inductees — of which I am one — have been punished to no end with their sole crime being that they were recruited on merit. Although we are deprived of our salaries, we are working diligently to make this project a success.
I urge the prime minister and the Chief Justice of Pakistan to look into the grievances of the CLDLT’s employees before it is too late.
Dr Saifur Rehman
Centre for Liver Diseases and Liver Transplant PIMS,
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2012.
