KARACHI, April 19: In a clear violation of the bylaws, the city government has dissolved the governing body of the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases and formed a new body to deal with the KIHD’s affairs.
According to a notification issued by the district coordination officer of Karachi, Fazl-ur-Rehman, on April 15, the former governing body constituted by former city nazim Naimatullah Khan on November 24, 2004, has been dissolved with immediate effect and a 12-member new body has been formed. The DCO has cited no specific reason for the dissolution of the governing body.
As per the bylaws of the KIHD, the tenure of a governing body is four years, and no change in the bylaws can be made without the approval of the city council.
However, the DCO while using the powers of the city council has constituted the new governing body.
The dissolved governing body comprised Niamatullah Khan (chairman), Tariq Hassan (senior vice-chairman), Fazl-ur-Rehman (vice chairman), Professor Abdus Samad (secretary), representative of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), Riaz Tabbasum, chairman of the Major Hospital Committee, Jalaluddin Saife (member city council), Saifuddin (member city council), Abdul Haque Khan, Professor Masood Javed, Professor Rafiq Alam, Justice rtd Nasir Aslam Zahid, Yaseen Malik, and Tanveer Magoon.
The city government has ousted Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid, and two well-known philanthropists, Yaseen Malik and Tanveer Magoon, from the governing body whereas as per the bylaws, the non-government members of the body can only relinquish their responsibilities before the completion of their tenure if they tender resignation to the city nazim, or the city council approves their removal.
None of the city council members has been inducted into the new governing body which is the requirement of the bylaws.
The new governing body consists of Syed Mustafa Kamal (chairman), Nasreen Jalil (senior vice chairman), Fazl-ur-Rehman (vice chairman), Professor Abdus Samad (secretary), Dr Abdul Haque Khan, Qazi Khalid (advocate), Dr Waqar Kazmi, Dr Nasir Javed, Haseeb Khan, S.M. Muneer, M. Siddique and Dr Siraj-ul-Haq.
According to the bylaws, Siraj-ul-Haq does not meet the criteria for a member of the governing body as he is working as deputy executive director of the civil hospital and has been inducted into the body on the seat of a nominee of the city nazim belonging to the education sector.
Similarly, Dr Nasir Javed is already working as resident medical officer of the the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. He is also a leader of the medical wing of a ruling party.
The last meeting of the KIHD governing body was held on May 4, 2005, whereas at least four meetings of the body must be held in a year as per requirement of the bylaws.
The KIHD bylaws were approved by the city council on August 21, 2004 through its resolution 507.
The former city government had build the second largest cardiac hospital on the premises of the old KMDC building in F.B Area on June 3, 2005 at a cost of Rs117 million. — Online
