Imran asks CJP to audit reforms in all provinces

Top judge had rebuked K-P govt over poor health facilities

ISLAMABAD : A day before the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) is to visit public sector hospitals in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan has asked him to form a committee to independently assess healthcare reforms situation in all provinces.

“I have only one request for the CJP that he should compare K-P’s performance in the health sector with the situation when it assumed power five years ago. The PTI never claimed that it has transformed facilities on a par with the West. We have just tried to introduce reforms in [the] existing system which is very difficult,” Khan said while addressing a news conference at Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa House on Monday.



Khan also recounted the challenges the K-P government had been facing while dealing with those ‘professionals’ who wanted to keep a status quo and opposed the government’s moves by hiding behind stay orders obtained from courts.

“I will request CJP Saqib Nisar to order an audit of last five years for evaluating  health, education and police reforms situation in all four provinces,” he said, adding that everyone was aware that developing a new health facility with efficient management was quite easier than reforming a decades-old system.

The PTI chairman stated that his party welcomes the CJP’s efforts for doing tasks the government’s regulators were supposed to do.

“We never said that PTI would make K-P a Paris, but I challenge the reforms our government has introduced in the health sector were never done before,” Khan said, adding the government took benefit from the expertise of health professionals responsible for developing a flawless management system in Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital.



Furthermore, Khan also named some senior doctors in Lady Reading Hospital, who were removed from their positions for poor performance but they obtained stay orders and “are now opposing reforms”. He also criticised the Young Doctors Association, saying that despite successful negotiations they still refused to perform their duties smoothly.

The PTI chief said that during the last five years the provincial government had increased health budget from Rs30 billion to Rs80 billion, inducted 5,000 doctors and developed 27 new hospitals.

Last month, CJP Nisar had visited two leading public sector hospitals in Peshawar and Abbotabad. During his visits, he had passed harsh remarks over the K-P government’s performance in health sector.