PNMC inactivity imperils nursing students

Sacked officials jockeying for reappointment, sources say

ISLAMABAD:

As the Pakistan Nursing and Midwifery Council (PNMC) awaits key appointments, it has become inactive resulting in delays in the resolution of issues facing nurses and nursing students from across the country.

The health ministry has also de-notified the council's president, Jawad Amin Khan, and vice president, Shahid Hussain. Sources within the ministry said efforts were afoot to get those officers reappointed, which was delaying the deployment of replacements. This has rendered the council ineffective as the president or the vice president are needed to exercise the powers vested in the council.

An official of the PNMC, speaking on the condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to comment on the issue, told The Express Tribune that the delay in new appointments had put the future of students of more than 250 nursing colleges in the country at risk. “Colleges cannot take new admissions until the pending issues with the council are resolved,” they said.

As per article 9A of the PNMC Amended Act 2023, the president is head of the council and “shall preside over all meetings of the council and the executive committee and shall convene the meetings.” The vice president is authorised to take over decision-making in the president’s absence.

The health ministry has also removed assistant registrar, Mushtaq Soomro, with the source saying that ‘influential individuals’ within the ministry were trying to get him and the others reinstated.

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Soomro was removed on November 6. As per the notification, PNMC Secretary Fauzia Mushtaq directed Soomro to report to the main institution of placement, the College of Nursing, Liaquat University Hospital Jamshoro under the Sindh health department.

However, Soomro had not joined institution despite the order. The notification has been submitted in the Islamabad High Court with Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani hearing the case.

Soomro’s appointment had also sparked controversy as he was under investigation and facing inquiries. At that time, the Sindh government had issued a show cause notice against him as he held the position of assistant registrar, while his notification appointment referred to him as the deputy registrar.

Sources added that Soomro as well as the two other office holders were removed after ‘higher authorities took notice of the allegations of corruption in the council’.

Now, because of delays in appointing replacement, the cases of thousands of nurses were pending and the problems of registration and expansion of hundreds of colleges were increasing.

The Express Tribune contacted the health ministry in this regard but did not receive a response.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th, 2023.