Candidates for nine vacant Healthcare Commission posts shortlisted

Commission's tenure ended on April 15 and political expediencies delay nominations

KARACHI: The Sindh government has forwarded a list of candidates for the posts of nine commissioner at the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC) to the chief minister.

The list includes the name of a former health secretary, along with the commission's former chairperson Dr Tipu Sultan and former member Dr HB Memon. Other doctors associated with commission have also started using political connections to get themselves appointed as commissioners.

The commissioners will be responsible for decision-making in the SHCC. From the total of nine commissioners, two nominations are given by the Sindh chief minister after which one of the nine commissioners will be nominated for the post of chairperson.

The SHCC chairperson and  other commissioners are not paid salaries but instead receive Rs20,000 as compensation for each meeting of the commission. They can, however, hold as many sessions in the year as needed.

As per rules, the chairperson of the commission is to be elected through secret balloting but starting this time, the appointment of the chairperson will be made by Sindh government. As per sources, Sultan and former health secretary Dr Suresh Kumar have tightened their belts for appointments at the SHCC.

The former chairperson has been included in the list of nominations and has a chance ending up as the chairman again while former health secretary Dr Suresh Kumar is also working hard for his appointment at the commission with hope to get the slot of chairman. The two appear to be in a cold battle for the top seat of the commission due to which new commissioners could not be announced after expiry of their office tenure on April 15. The delay has reportedly been caused by political interruptions. Meanwhile, the provincial chief secretary had called up a session to review performance of the commission on Monday but the meeting was deferred due to some unavoidable circumstances. In addition to performance review, the meeting's agenda also included extension in the office of the healthcare commission's CEO.

Currently, the commission is operating without a chairperson and its commissioners. On the other side, the commission has expressed reservations over non-submission of complaints pertaining to health facilities and hospitals. The complaints should first arrive at SHCC and not at the police station, it said, asking the police to ensure that FIRs, if any, are registered only on  its request.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2019.