KARACHI, March 15: Despite the passage of a considerable amount of time, the Sindh government has been unable to accord the much stressed autonomy in the shape of board of governors (BoGs) to all its teaching hospitals, said health circles.
It was learnt that after a lot of exercises only one of the six teaching hospitals, the Civil Hospital Karachi, had been able to get a chairman for its Board of Governors, while the rest were ignored.
The idea of constituting board of governors or management to minimize government’s influence and to allow them to run their affairs smoothly, while ensuring marked improvement in the efficiency of employees and transparent utilization of funds and other resources available with them, was floated in the mid 2004.
After developing consensus among the high-ups, an ordinance “The Sindh Health Institutions (Establishment and Management) Ordinance, 2005”, was promulgated by Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan on August 1, 2005. The ordinance was aimed at giving the health institutions in the province the autonomy to provide quality and affordable health care to all sections of the society.
Under the ordinance, subject to control and directions of the government the board of governors would act as the principal governing body of a health institution and its administration and management would vest in the board which shall consist of a chairman to be appointed by the chief minister and such official and non-official members as provided under the ordinance’s clauses.
The board, which would be free to use finances released by the Sindh government in line with the annual budgetary allocations, may also request the government to sanction additional Grant-in-Aid on a case to case basis, said a source, adding that since July 2005 all funds had been transferred to the teaching hospitals of Karachi, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Larkana and Sukkur.
However, in wake of the “inordinate delay” in the installation of BoGs and their formal functioning, the funds shifted to the hospitals in question were now completely at the disposal of medical superintendents concerned, some of whom have also formed a committee for the procurement of medicines and utilization of funds for other purposes, said sources privy to hospitals.
Prior to July 2005 hospitals were authorized to procure 25 per cent of the required medicines, while 75 per cent medicines were to be procured by the Sindh health department for the hospitals. Now the entire procurement of medicines lies with the hospital’s MS or a body delegated power for the purpose, added the source.
Due to the delay in the constitution of the BoGs for all the teaching hospitals, there is likelihood that the government’s policy of devolution and measures taken so far for improving the working of the hospitals would be hampered.
In response to an advertisement, the Sindh health department had received over 20 applications for the posts of chairman in the five proposed BoGs. The Civil and the Lyari General hospitals were lucky enough to have a chairman for their joint BoG in the mid of January 2006, said a government official, adding that names of some retired personnel of bureaucracy and judiciary had been sent to the chief minister for appointments as chairmen of the remaining hospitals.
Keen observers cited that it was the traditional hassles in the bureaucracy and lobbying on the political fronts that was causing delay in the appointment of the chairmen.
Having acquaintances of the BoG requirements and its working, a source said that the appointment of chairmen, needed to be followed by the appointment of finance director and nominations of various members of the BoG coming from the government and private sectors.
Despite appointment of a chairman, the BoG for the Civil and Lyari General hospitals could not be made functional so far as finance director and filling of other posts of members are awaited.
Very recently, the health department has been provided with the names of finance director, who would be a salaried official, and other nominations for the Karachi hospitals, which would now be sent to the chief minister, said an official of the health department.
If made functional, the BoGs would be in a position to approve over all plans, polices and programmes of the institutes in relation to the approved policy of the government; examine and approve teaching and research programmes, examine and approve the annual and evaluation reports of the institution for submission to the provincial government; approve the annual development and non-development budget of the institution, consult the national academic bodies and other relevant statutory organizations or the government, where necessary; and ensure that the government servants are provided treatment according to their entitlement.
