K-P fires 3 board members of Ayub Medical Complex

The sudden move raises questions of its own since the BoG members have yet to receive any notification about it

PESHAWAR: As the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) terminated the services of some members of the board of governors of the Ayub Medical Complex (AMC) in Abbottabad.

But the sudden move has raised questions of its own since the BoG members have yet to receive any notification about it.

The K-P health ministry on Monday terminated services of AMC board’s chairman Javed Pani, members Col (Rtd) Salahuddin and Brigadier (Rtd) Khalid Hussain. At the same time Amir Mahmood, Junaid Mushtaq and Ahmad Siraj were appointed to AMC’s board.

According to the Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) Act 2015, members of the BoG are hired for a period of three years and with a provision to be retained for subsequent terms.

“We are dead sure that there are some politics (involved in the move) but at the same time some personal issues cannot be ruled out,” a health official, who is privy to the development, told The Express Tribune.

The official, who did not wish to be named keeping in view nature of the issue, explained that the services of these members had been terminated under sub-section 3 of section 5 of the K-P MTI Reforms Act 2015 (amended).

However, the official raised questions over the way the three members were terminated.

“Why only three of the BoG members [were fired], why not all of them,” the official asked.

The official stated that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) local leadership wanted to remove the BoG members apart from some officials part of the Young Doctors’ movement.

Noting that the former board chairman of AMC Javed Pani was a relative of PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s former wife Reham, the official suspected that it could have had a role to play in the termination.

“No, I do not say it was an outcome of the breakup between Imran and his former wife but at the same time it cannot be ruled out,” the official said.

Pani, however, termed his termination on personal grounds as baseless. Rather, he was of the view that the move precipitated out of opposition from local PTI leaders and young doctors association.

“Some were against reforms at AMC,” Pani said.

“Not at all, it has nothing to do anything with Reham, neither can they terminate our services under the sections mentioned,” Pani told The Express Tribune.

Reham could not be reached for her version on the issue despite repeated attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2017.