Unverifiable degrees: Over 30 paramedics at AMC to face the axe

Cases emerge after K-P govt launched a drive to check employees’ credentials.

ABBOTABAD:

Around 30 paramedics of Ayub Medical Complex (AMC) Abbottabad are likely to be terminated as their professional credentials could not be verified from the institutions they were issued, The Express Tribune learnt on Wednesday.

Those facing the axe include employees with thirty years of service who have served even in the operation theatre, sources said.

Following the Election Commission’s initiative to verify legislators’ degrees, government departments in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa launched a drive to check the credentials of all public sector employees, sources said.

During the vetting exercise, the administration of Hazara’s largest hospital, AMC, asked their employees to submit verified professional certificates.

Those who failed to comply with the directive, were issued show cause notices by chief executive AMC to clarify why they could not provide proof of their professional credentials.,

The employees were given seven days for clarification, sources said.

“Yes, we have served notices to over a dozen employees possessing fake certificates,” said an official at the AMC’s chief executive’s office requesting anonymity.

Confirming the report, he said that the process of vetting was ongoing and more employees could be served notices.

Medical Superintendent AMC Dr Jan Muhammad, when approached for comments, also confirmed the report but refused to provide further details.

Another officer at the establishment branch also confirmed of serving notices to these employees but said it was not possible for him to release names of the employees without permission of the medical superintendent or chief executive AMC.

Replying to a question, he said that the issue had surfaced in 2006, but was hushed up due to political influence.

A paramedic who has been working as ECG technician at the AMC for over three decades said that he was also served with the notice.

“I’m astonished since all my record is with the health department and has certainly been misplaced.” He said that it was not possible for him to verify his credentials after three decades.

Another paramedic accused the health department of creating an issue and said this process should have been carried out at the time of hiring.

“Terminating our services and stigmatising us close to superannuation with the allegation of fake certificates is unjust.”

He claimed that his certificate was genuine, but the private institutions he had attended had ceased to exist now.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2012.