PHOTO: FILE
Those responsible for appointing doctors at social security hospitals and dispensaries are either poor at math or great at nepotism. What else might explain the fact that nine doctors have been appointed in a dispensary that requires two and a hospital which needs at least 30 medical officers has only 18?
Take the West Wharf dispensary run by the Sindh Employees Social Security Institute (SESSI) as an example. Two doctors are sanctioned to work there. How many are actually employed at the dispensary? Nine.
Most of them have friends or family in high places. “Four of them are related to legislators, one is the spouse of an influential DIG and yet another is the daughter of a retired additional chief secretary,” one of the dispensary’s doctors told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity. “They have gotten the jobs by pulling strings and don’t even bother coming to the dispensary.”
Those who do come to the dispensary collude with one another, splitting duties between themselves. They get the same pay as they would if they were working at social security hospitals.
On the other hand...
The social security organisation also runs two major hospitals in Landhi and SITE, where workers registered with it are supposed to not only get treated for minor illnesses, but also be admitted in case of severe ailments which necessitate surgeries.
Abdul Wahid, a trade union leader, said that he has been complaining to higher authorities, but to no avail. For the last ten years, the social security hospital in Landhi has been without a general physician, a paediatrician or a dermatologist. “Whenever patients visit, doctors refer them to other hospitals.”
When contacted, a senior doctor working at the hospital told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity that a letter had been written to higher authorities about the problem. “A total of 32 medical officers are supposed to be employed at this hospital, but only 18 are working here.”
Valika hospital in SITE has similar problems. Its medical superintendent, Dr Saadat Memon said that the labour secretary and SESSI’s commissioner had taken notice of the shortage of paramedics and were about to place an advertisement in the newspapers. But the election commission has placed a banned on new appointments, he said.
‘We’ll look into it’
SESSI is running eight dispensaries in Karachi under what it calls the ‘City Circle’. The areas they have been set up include Lines Area, Pak Colony, Federal B Area, Old Golimar, Pirabad and North Karachi.
Insisting he has nothing to do with postings and transfers, the circle’s chief medical officer, Dr Azam Khan, acknowledged that there might be a problem. “There have been complaints regarding an excess of doctors at West Wharf dispensary. The head of the labour department or SESSI’s commissioner would be in better position to explain.”
Labour minister Ameer Nawab said he would investigate. The Awami National Party minister resigned from the post shortly after the Sindh Peoples Local Government Ordinance 2012 was promulgated in September last year. He recently rejoined the government. “During my tenure, there were no such complaints. I used to visit different hospitals and dispensaries,” he said. “I have now taken over as the labour minister after six months of absence. Let me look into this..”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 13th, 2013.
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