ISLAMABAD: Perhaps taking a cue from Imran Khan’s politics of agitation, a PPP lawmaker on Tuesday threatened to place another container outside the Parliament House if the government did not regularise services of contractual employees in the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) and the Federal General Hospital, Chak Shahzad.

During the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat held to discuss issue of daily wage workers and contractual employees, Senator Rubina Khalid said the matter should be resolved in pursuance of the judgment of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

“If the government did not regularise services of the employees, we will place another container outside the parliament in protest,” Senator Khalid said, adding that she was making this statement on behalf of the opposition leader, Syed Khursheed Shah.

The meeting was presided over by Senator Kalsoom Parveen and attended by senators Kamil Ali Agha, Mushahidullah Khan, Saeeda Iqbal, Nawabzada Saifullah Magsi and others.

The meeting directed the secretary Cabinet Division to constitute a committee in the light of the IHC verdict to resolve the issue of contractual employees working in various educational institutions.

Officials from the FDE told the committee that they would resolve the issue on priority basis in accordance with the law.

Senator Rubina Khalid demands govt regularise services of contractual employees

The committee also took up the issue of around 300 MBBS students of the Federal Medical and Dental College (FMDC), whose future hanged in the balance after the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) blacklisted the college and stopped it from offering new admissions.

PMDC Registrar Dr Amjad Mahmood told the committee that in 2012 the then government established the college without appointing the required faculty.

He said the PMDC blacklisted the college because it failed to fulfill the standards and criteria set for a medical college.

The committee members came down hard on the registrar and accused the administration of the PMDC of being incompetent and corrupt.

The members asked why the PMDC had allowed the college to offer admissions without having the required faculty. They said when students had submitted millions of rupees in fees, the PMDC blacklisted the college.

Principal FMDC Prof Dr Hasnain M. Naqvi also informed the committee that the college was facing acute shortage of faculty members.

He requested the government to announce vacancies and regularise contractual employees of the college and the Federal General Hospital.

Senator Kamil Ali Agha said a mafia was running affairs of the PMDC.

The senators also asked the registrar why the PMDC was not recognising the degrees of doctors who got medical education from Cuba.

According to the PMDC, those who got medical degrees from Cuba should pass a local equivalence test for getting themselves registered.

The Cuban government had offered scholarships to around 950 Pakistani students affected by the 2005 earthquake.

“The government of Cuba provided education to the students but the mafia in the PMDC is not accepting them,” said Senator Agha.

His views were seconded by Minister Aftab Sheikh and Mushahidullah Khan.

The committee then decided to hold another meeting to discuss PMDC’s affairs.

The committee also discussed the role of National Testing Service (NTS) in government organisations.

The committee chairperson said the NTS was earning millions of rupees from the government sector but paying almost nothing to the national exchequer. The committee recommended an audit of the NTS.

Published in Dawn December 10th , 2014