Pakistan

Devolution aftermath: Confusion reigns over capital’s Hajj medical mission

Most federal doctors, nurses and paramedics wonder what happened as their names were not included in the final lists.

Sehrish Wasif September 22, 2011

ISLAMABAD:

With Hajj flights scheduled to start on October 1, most staff members of federal hospitals recommended for the Hajj mission are still waiting for their appointment letters.

The list of the medical staff for the mission was recommended by the Ministry of Health before devolution. According to the medical staff of the federal hospitals, they have a 60 per cent quota for the Hajj medical mission.

Every year the recommended staff members, which include nurses, paramedics and doctors receive a call from the ministry at the end of Ramazan. Their training starts after Eidul Fitr. While they waited to be called, the government completed training for the Hajj mission at provincial level, doctors said.

However, on September 21, after the training had been concluded, the Ministry of Religious Affairs issued a new list including names of eight paramedics from Polyclinic Hospital. None of the staff members recommended from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), the largest hospital in Islamabad, were included in the list.

The process for Hajj mission started on May 5 and the file was handed over to the Ministry of Religious Affairs by General Health Assistant Director General Dr Sabeen Afzal. Sources said a file containing names of 108 paramedics and 51 doctors from federal hospitals was approved by the secretary health on June 29.

Some of the nominated paramedics and doctors said they were told by officials of Ministry of Religious Affairs that the quota for the medical staff of federal hospitals for the mission was abolished.

Senior Urologist Dr Ataullah Arain from Polyclinic Hospital had the same story to share. “It was surprising to see that the final list for the Hajj mission did not contain our names, even though we were recommended by our hospital administration and approved by Ministry of Health,” he said.

Officials of the ministry dealing with the mission were unavailable for comments despite being approached on repeated occasions.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2011.

COMMENTS (1)

Muhammad Irfanullah Abbasi | 13 years ago | Reply I retired from government service on 01-07-2011.I was an employee of Agricultural & Livestock Products Marketing & Grading of Min of Agri.AGPR, Karachi, is still not accepting my pension papers upon the plea that these must be signed by the Head of the Department/Appointing Authority.Now the ministry stands devolved and the department has been wound up and all the officers and staff has been transferred to other departments.No clear cut instructions have been provided by the gods of devolution.letters have been written but no reply as yet. Phone calls either not attended and if attended then other phone numbers are provided to be contacted.Facing great hardship but don't know who will solve my problem.

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