'Durrani turned down PM's advice' -DAWN - National; 05 October, 2004


05 October 2004	Tuesday	19 Shaban 1425

'Durrani turned down PM's advice'
By Our Correspondent

PESHAWAR, Oct 4: Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has turned down Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's advice to restore the institution-based practice (IBP) in the NWFP, sources told Bureau Report.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) government scrapped the IBP two years ago, which had been introduced by the military-led government in public sector hospitals of the NWFP.

The sources said Mr Aziz during his visit to the provincial metropolis, had asked the chief minister to restore the IBP, but Mr Durrani declined to do so. The chief minister reportedly informed the prime minister that the IBP had affected the performance of hospitals and medical colleges. About 40 senior consultants had resigned in protest against the IBP.

The chief minister said the IBP was abolished because there was no charm either for the doctors or for the patients. Under the system, the patients were required to pay Rs300 as consultation fee in the evening shifts at the state-run hospitals. The same amount was charged in the privately established clinics of the consultants.

The IBP, which was began in January 2001 in the public sector hospitals in the NWFP and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), had also no benefit for the doctors, because they were required to surrender 20 per cent of their income to the government.

The chief minister, according to the sources, also informed the prime minister that the system had been launched without taking the stakeholders into confidence. The sources said that a year ago President Gen Pervez Musharraf had also asked the chief minister to restore the system.

The IBP was to the day enforced in Fata, which comes under the jurisdiction of the governor. Mr Durrani was of the view that the province needed more medical teachers, but regretted that owing to the IBP, senior-most consultants had left their jobs, due which several wards in the hospitals had been de-recognized by the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP).