Govt hospitals urged to extend doctors’ contracts

Senate panel also seeks law ministry’s input

ISLAMABAD: A Senate panel on Monday directed to further extend the contract of some doctors working at public hospitals in the federal capital for years.

This was directed during a meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat under the chairmanship of Senator Talha Mehmood at the Parliament House on Monday.

During the meeting, the chairman inquired about regularizing some contractual doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).

Senator Mehmood said that doctors were messiahs who help sustain the lives of people. He added their problems should be resolved on an immediate basis.

The health secretary told the committee that some 100 hospital employees including, 49 employees from Pims — including 10 employees from the bone marrow centre, 15 from Polyclinic, 33 from the federal government hospital and 13 federal medical colleges of Pims were facing similar problems.

He added that the Supreme Court (SC) too had directed to regularise these doctors but through the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC).

Dr Faisal from the Pims Cardiac Centre told the committee that they had been hired on contract when the cardiac project began. He added that they had been promised regular, permanent jobs when the project was completed.  However, this did not happen.

He added that it was a similar case with employees of the bone marrow centre, who, despite having a complete service record have yet to be regularised.

Dr Faisal went on to say that during the course of the project, they were given two years of cardiac training. He added that his colleagues, including Dr Shahid Nawaz Malik, were regularized in 2013, but they were being discriminated against.

He continued that the health ministry and Pims had given them written assurances in 2015 to permit them to work after directions from a court. Moreover, he paid tribute to the Pims executive director who told the court that the centre could not run without the contractual staffers.

He added that even the apex court had ordered that the cardiac centre must not shut down at any cost.

Senator Robina Khalid observed that the government had invested heavily in training these doctors while they had also gained experience at the centre as well.

She urged the government to find a way to regularise these staffers.

Senator Javed Abbasi said that the services of these doctors were appreciable and a summary for their regularisation should be presented in the cabinet.

At this, Senator Mehmood said that law ministry’s input in this regard would be sought as he directed that the doctors’ contract should be extended and none of them should be removed until the matter was resolved.

The committee also reviewed Shehzadi Zainab’s public complaint.

Zainab’s legal representative told the committee that the government-owned 87% of Flashman’s Hotel in Rawalpindi while private investors owned 13% shares in the property.

He added that his client had four per cent share, the Khan of Kalat’s family had six per cent and others owned the remaining shares.

“We are not given any importance,” he complained, adding that the hotel approved an AGM in its own name for Rs5 million annually for 50 years.

However, the AGM has not been held for the past 20 years.  He added there were total four to five properties which had been privatized while they were ready to acquire it on a lease of Rs10 million annually. He demanded that they should be given their rightful share.

Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) officials told the committee that the company had not filed its annual returns since 2009. They further said that the company was registered in the name of Associate Hotels of Pakistan.

At this, the minister for parliamentary affairs said that it was a private company which belonged to the federal government. He added that it was a complex matter which is pending before the court.

Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) legal advisor said that the hotel had been leased in 1992 after all legal procedures were completed while the military estate had issued a show cause notice in 1996.

To this, Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi said that it was better to reach a conclusion after reviewing all documents and details.

He added one of Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA’s) wings looking into matters of this nature should be summoned in the next meeting.

The committee chairman said he felt that Zainab was being mistreated in the entire case and that the committee will help her get her due rights according to the law.

He added that the FIA Director General (DG)should also brief the committee at the next meeting while he directed legal advisor of Zainab to provide recommendations to resolve this matter.

The committee also reviewed recommendations from PSQCA for certificates for building material.

They said that building material had nine elements.

Senator Azam Swati said PSQCA should send a summary to the cabinet while they would reach a decision after reviewing it.

The officials said that they had sent some recommendations in 2016 as well and added that they could not check all 700 procuring agencies.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2019.