The HRA, established in 2002, is an independent authority with a total annual budget of Rs20 million. PHOTO: FILE
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has failed to appoint four of six key Health Regulatory Authority (HRA) members even though the tenures lapsed four months ago, The Express Tribune learnt on Tuesday.
The remaining two are still working at the HRA – Director General Dr Zafar Khan and chairperson Muhammad Muzaffar Khan. However, the chairperson’s appointment is a matter being battled out in court since the past two and a half years. The HRA, established in 2002, is an independent authority with a total annual budget of Rs20 million. It is meant to consist of a chairperson, director general, four inspectors, three office assistants, four junior clerks and one managing director.
The regulatory body is responsible for ensuring quality healthcare, issuing fee structures to doctors and laboratories, and the registration of clinics and laboratories.
An official wishing to remain anonymous told The Express Tribune the HRA has failed to carry out its duties as a result of internal problems. The key members of HRA are the chairperson, and five other members, including two technical and two non-technical staff members, he shared.
However, the tenures of technical officers Dr Abdul Khalik and Dr Mohim Afridi, and non-technical officers Dr Abid Iqbal and Dr Falak Naz were completed in September 2013. Chairperson Muhammad Muzaffar Khan has remained at his post based on a Supreme Court superannuation judgment. His tenure is at the heart of ongoing proceedings at the Peshawar High Court (PHC).
Musical chairs
The previous government fired former HRA chairperson Brigadier Qazi in 2011 and appointed Khan, who was then the special secretary of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) health department. The official added within a short period Khan was removed after a Supreme Court decision and replaced by Dr Akbar Khan as the HRA chairperson.
However, according to the official, Khan challenged the decision at the PHC, insisting he would remain chairperson till the remaining duration of his tenure – two years, five months and fourteen days.
This legal back and forth, which has continued for almost the same duration, has impacted how the HRA performs its job, claimed the official. Every month, the HRA meets to decide issues related to budgets, human resources, and other problems, but these seem to have been waylaid over internal affairs.
“Four key posts of HRA are lying vacant while the current chairperson does not have the authority to hire new officers and releasing money for field work,” claimed the person.
Three HRA staff members – assistant Tanvir Khan, junior clerk Raza Shah and security guard Mohib Khan – were targeted while at work but their family members were not paid any compensatory dues as no one at the HRA was able to carry out the task, complained the officer. When contacted, K-P Secretary Department of Health Dr Ghulam Qadir Khan admitted there were vacant posts. However, he claimed, all HRA activities are in line and the chairman and director continue to manage the load.
According to Ghulam, legislation on health institutions has been sent to the law department and will be passed from the K-P Assembly within a week after which new officials will be recruited for the vacant HRA posts.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2013.
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