The chief justice asked why can liver transplants not be held in government hospital of the capital given how it was the state’s responsibility to provide the treatment facilities
PHOTO: EXPRESS
Unusual day at Supreme Court's Peshawar registry
The apex court had taken suo moto notice of non-payment of salaries to employees at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Cardiac and Bone Marrow Centre. At a previous hearing of the case, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar had directed the government to pay the staffers of these centres so that the centres keep on working optimally.
On Monday Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Additional Secretary Jamal Yousaf appeared before the court and said that they had discovered that staff of the centre was taking money from patients. Moreover, they were also conducting their private practice at the centre.
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Yousaf also pointed to how one of the surgeons at the centre had been expelled on harassment charges but the surgeon had resorted to accusing the staffers of levelling harassment allegations against him and subsequent expulsion despite being a permanent employee.
However, the CJP stopped Yousaf, reminding the CADD official that the case was about payment of dues to staffers and asked him not to interfere in the hospital’s matters.
Dr Mahrukh Zahoor and Dr Faisal from the centre explained to the court how they have been generating income for the government from the centre, despite the fact that they have not been paid for the past three years.
In this regard, they pointed out how the various shifts of the centre had generated Rs84.16 million in revenue from July 2015 to December 2017. Of this, they said that the morning shift had generated Rs.37.57 million while the evening shift had generated a whopping Rs46.59 million during this time.
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The income, they said, had been deposited into Pims’ accounts by patients visiting the centre through proper receipts. Around 40 per cent of the amount collected goes to the government while the remaining 60 per cent goes to Pims and is then further divided into different departments.
A subsequent audit could not find any evidence of doctors or other staffers at the cardiac centre directly receiving cash from patients, the doctors told the court as they refuted Yousaf’s allegations.
The chief justice then directed the CADD Secretary and prime minister’s secretary to appear before the court and explain why staffers working for three years have not been paid.
Regarding the harassment case, a doctor told the court that an inquiry found cardiac surgeon Dr Humayun Iqbal guilty of harassing a subordinate, postgraduate student. The case for his termination was subsequently referred to the syndicate of the medical university under which the Pims was working at the time.
However, the CADD additional secretary defended the surgeon.
Justice Nisar, though, suggested that he can refer the case to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for further investigations if the allegations were false.
The CJ was also informed that most senior administrative cadre doctors have been appointed as permanent executive directors of the two main government hospitals.
Liver transplant
The matter of non-functional liver transplant centres was also discussed during Monday’s hearing.
The chief justice asked why can liver transplants not be held in government hospital of the capital given how it was the state’s responsibility to provide the treatment facilities.
The complainant, Dr Waqar, told the apex court that a liver transplant, even at the government-subsidised Shifa International Hospital (SIH) costs around Rs5 million. Moreover, the liver transplant centre at Pims was not working.
Over the past two years, Dr Waqar claimed, as many as 150 transplants were conducted in the private hospital. Justice Nisar, though, observed that SIH is not a trust. Rather, he added, it is an expensive hospital.
He further remarked that in the past two years, the government had paid Rs600 million to the hospital for transplants.
Justice Nisar was of the view that the government could have built a new centre at a government hospital in the city for less than that.
Meanwhile, Pims’ new Executive Director Amjad Mahmood told the court that skilled surgeons are required to carry out liver transplants. However, he pointed out that such surgeons have no desire to join the centre on government salaries.
On the other hand, he pointed out that the government was not ready to increase their packages to entice skilled surgeons.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2018.
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