Redefining job descriptions: Chief minister wants doctors to work as doctors

Health dept told to remove doctors who had been hired as project directors

KARACHI: Criticising the health department for posting doctors on administrative jobs, Sindh chief minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah has ordered the removal of doctors working as project directors on various schemes.

Shah issued these directives while presiding over a development review meeting of health department at CM House on Tuesday. "[Working as project directors] is not the doctors' job. Their job is to serve the ailing people of the province," he said. The CM warned that he will take strict action if relevant officers of the health department fail to improve.

"It is quite surprising that instead of posting doctors in hospitals, they have been made project directors and have been assigned administrative jobs," he said. The CM added that this is an injustice with them and their jobs. "Jobs for which the doctors were trained for were taken away from them and instead were given the work they are not trained for," he claimed, while directing the health minister and health secretary to put up a proposal for removing the doctors from these posts.



The CM said he was informed about the slow progress of six schemes in Karachi. These schemes include cardiac emergency centre in Baldia, strengthening of services hospital, up gradation of chemico-bacteriological lab, ancillary and other services hospital at Nipa Chowrangi, establishment of central blood bank and up gradation of three maternity homes in PIB Colony, Soldier Bazaar and Patel Para.

These health projects, which were started in 2011, were supposed to be completed by the mid of 2016. Majority of the project directors refused to comment on the schemes and slow progress of work, however, one of them held the finance department responsible for delay in release of the funds. "The process of fund release has now been accelerated after the current chief minister has taken charge," the project director said on the condition of anonymity. "Otherwise, the release of funds was a big issue for us and that is why schemes have not met their targets," he added.

During the meeting, the CM expressed dismay when he was told that some of the health schemes of Malir have not been taken up because their design approval was pending with works and services department designs director-general. He directed the chief secretary to call the officers of works and services and the health department and arrange a joint meeting with them on Wednesday. The CM warned that if the relevant officers fail to deliver in order to meet the targets, then he will get the work completed by outsourcing these responsibilities.

Health minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro said there were 146 schemes over all, including 89 ongoing schemes of Rs14 billion, of which Rs5,245.374 million have been released. Giving the beak up of the schemes, health secretary Fazal Pechuho said there were 22 schemes of Rs2,154.94 million, which are expected to be completed by the end of this financial year. The finance department has released Rs2,154.920 million, out of which Rs252.774 million have been utilised and the remaining amount will also be released shortly, he added.

Pechuho said that there were 65 other schemes of Rs7 billion, against which Rs3.7 billion have been released. Apart from that, there are two foreign funded schemes of Rs228.5 million each, for which the government has released Rs66.8 million he added. He claimed that there are 57 new schemes and Rs4.6 billion has been released for them, The new schemes are in approving phase, therefore, there has been no expenditures on them yet, he added.

Officials who attended the meeting included chief secretary Rizwan Memon, additional chief secretary for development M Waseem, principal secretary to CM Naveed Kamran Baloch and finance secretary Hassan Naqvi.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2017.