Chief executive removed for ‘misappropriation’

Doctors at the Ayub Medical Institute have hailed the unceremonial ousting of the college’s chief executive.

ABBOTABAD: Doctors at the Ayub Medical Institute (AMI) have hailed the unceremonial ousting of the college’s chief executive.

Chief Minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Ameer Haider Khan Hoti dismissed Shehzad Naeem from his post as chief executive of AMI on Monday. Hoti also removed the medical superintendent, Dr Iftikhar, from his post (however he will continue to serve at the hospital as a doctor). The management council of Hazara’s premier public teaching hospital was also disbanded.

The development was a consequence of a long-drawn tug-of-war between Shehzad Naeem and the hospital’s management council. The council had levelled and later proved serious charges of misappropriation against Naeem.

The chief minister took the decision in light of a fact-finding report submitted by Sahibzada Muhammad Anees, commissioner of Hazara division. However another report, by an inspection committee constituted by the chief minister to probe the matter, is still pending.

Naeem, an officer in the accounts department of the hospital, was contacted for the institution’s top slot by Syed Zahir Shah, K-P’s health minister, in February 2008. He was getting Rs200,000 per month in salary.

The doctors in the hospital, while happy with Naeem’s removal, wonder if any action will be taking against him for his alleged misappropriations.

While some doctors said they believed the pending report of the provincial inspection team will be fully implemented and the money will be recovered, others do not have such an optimistic view of the situation. They believe the former chief executive still has a strong political backing and it would be very hard for prosecutors to go against him.

The management council, in its report, had pointed out many irregularities, financial mismanagement and incorrect appointments and promotions by the Chief Executive Shehzad Naeem. The committee had said in its report that Naeem had bypassed rules and regulations, leaving the institution at the “verge of collapse”.

In response the provincial government had constituted two inquiry committees to probe the matter. While the report by provincial inspection team is still pending, the inquiry conducted by commissioner Hazara confirmed the management council’s findings. The commissioner, in his report, recommended that Naeem and Dr Iftikhar be removed from their posts. He also recommended in his report that a new management council be formed.

The commissioner’s report said that Naeem had sanctioned expenses that were misused. The now former chief executive also awarded contracts without consulting technical or competent departments, the report said. It added that people were hired without following proper procedure.

“More than 500 staff including doctors have been appointed on daily wages without observing any codal formalities and financial rules,” the report said.

The commissioner’s report further stated that promotions were made against the rules and procedures without involving the departmental promotion committee. New construction work was initiated in the hospital at different places without formal approval of the relevant department, which is affecting the original design of the complex, the report added.

The hospital’s budget was neither prepared nor submitted to the management council under 2001 Act for Approval.

While the chief executive, principal and medical superintendent are allowed to sanction expenditures and purchases, the limits in most cases were violated. “[Thus] all expenditures incurred during [the chief executive’s tenure] were illegal,” the report concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2010.