Due to non-commencement of the process of recruitment of physicians, nurses and paramedical staff and non-acquisition of the equipment in much delayed yet significant project of the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Transplantation (RIUT), the situation has deteriorated badly, sources said Saturday.
As a result, the recommendations to form a 12-member Board of Management, including many controversial and politically influential persons, have been sent to the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department, the sources added.
Not only 20 per cent of the civil work is incomplete on the most significant 250-bed RIUT project situated on Murree Road in Shamsabad, which was launched by the then-Punjab chief minister and current Prime Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, but also the hospital has only been made partially functional with the facilities of OPD, dialysis centre and lithotripsy.
The RUIT Chief Executive Officer has now recommended notifying the formation of the Board of Management with some of the most controversial characters on record while some individuals are believed to belong to a privileged group called Rawlians owing to their kinship, political affiliation and graduating from the Rawalpindi Medical College.
According to sources, among the names sent to the formatting of the 12-member Board of Management are Dr Khalid Mahmood Randhawa, former medical superintendent of the RIUT, who has been asked by the inquiry committee to pay Rs7.5 million for illegally keeping an official vehicle; former executive district health officer Dr Zafar Iqbal Gondal, who faced several allegations in the health department; Dr Abdul Rasheed, brother of former provincial minister Chaudhry Muhammad Riaz; and retired officer Shahbaz Ahmed, who is a close relative of another figure in the current Board of Management.
Further, the names of former district mayor and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Tariq Mehboob Kayani, retired professors Dr Fazlur Rahman, Dr Riaz Ahmed, Dr Asghar Ali Haider, retired officer Rizwan Akhtar, businessman Khalil Noon, retired doctor Iffat and advocate Mian Abdul Rauf are also included in the list, the sources claimed.
It should be noted that the names of those who have better management skills were not included in the recommendation list for the Board of Management.
The source said, despite being qualified to be on the board of management, the names of former MS and CEO Health Dr Sohail Chaudhry, for MS Dr Shoaib Khan, former MS Dr Shafiq Sarwar, former MS Dr Tariq Niazi and former MS Dr Zahid Chaudhry did not make it to the CEO’s recommendation list.
On the recommendation of the controversial names to be included in the Board of Management, a debate has started in the health department that this most important project may not become successful if it is based on nepotism and political lobbying rather than pure merit.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 15th, 2023.
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