ISLAMABAD: A Joint Investigation Team (JIT), looking into criminal charges against former petroleum minister and PPP leader Dr Asim Hussain, visited the head office of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) – of which Dr Hussain had been the vice president – on Tuesday.

No immediate official word was available on what the members of the JIT, drawn from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Sindh Rangers and some other agencies, did at the PMDC head office.

But a member of the PMDC interim management committee promised an official statement “as soon as the investigation [at PMDC] is completed”.

“We have learnt that the JIT may also be looking to investigate some other persons, which is why so many records were sought by the JIT from the PMDC, which has been providing all relevant evidence in the spirit of full cooperation with law enforcement agencies,” he said.

A physician by profession and associated with a teaching hospital established by his father, Dr Asim held high positions in the last PPP government.

He was chairman of the Sindh Higher Education Commission with the rank of a provincial minister when Rangers arrested him during the ongoing Karachi operation and later accused him of corruption and helping terrorists.

Officials say investigators asked for a large amount of records; may be probing other individuals linked to Dr Asim

PMDC condemned his arrest in a statement the same day. The next day, August 28, President Mamnoon Hussain promulgated the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council A mendment Ordinance 2015, which led to the dissolution of the managing committee of the regulatory authority.

An interim management committee, headed by retired Maj-Gen Azhar Kiyani of the Army Medical Corps with Prof Abid Farooqi, Prof Nadeem Rizvi and others as members, replaced it.

A month later, NAB wrote a letter to PMDC seeking a massive amount of records, indicating that Dr Asim Hussain and others were prima facie involved in corruption, and asked for ‘justification’ for any record that is not available.

A copy of the letter available with Dawn, shows the vastness of the investigation. It seeks records related to PMDC’s activities since January 1, 2007, and of the two commissions that investigated the allegations of fake registration of doctors and mismanagement in 2013 and 2014.

In addition to matters relating to registration of doctors and of new medical and dental colleges, both in public and private sectors, the quality of education and of the doctors they produced. NAB also sought records of Dr Asim’s own medical degrees and profile, including his applications for grant of teaching certificates and the criteria for getting that certificate.

Similarly, NAB sought the legal requirements for a medical/dental college to be recognised, the number of students it was allowed to admit in an academic year, and the province-wise breakup of medical colleges extended recognition or provisional recognition before and after January 1, 2007.

Moreover, it asked for year-wise details of people who served on the PMDC Executive Committee, the remuneration given to them, meetings the committee held, and auditor general’s reports about PMDC – all since 2007.

It also reflected NAB’s keen interest in the doings of the National Examination Board (NEB) as it asked for the number of medical students who applied for, appeared and cleared the NEB exam each year since 2007, clearly naming the degree awarding universities and colleges they attended.

The NEB system was introduced by the former management of the PMDC following complaints that medical students who did not get quality education abroad could pose danger to public health if they were allowed to start practice without confirming the quality of their education.

Another inquiry made by NAB concerned the funds the PMDC received every year and spent on development/non-development activities in all its offices in the country since January 1, 2007 and whether any medical/dental college established its campus outside Pakistan.

Moreover, NAB sought all the reports issued by the Auditor General about PMDC since 2007, the complete record of cases registered against fake doctors, or who submitted fake registration document, the inquiry reports of the retired Justice Shabbar Raza Rizvi commission on the same in 2013, and the one constituted by Justice Athar Minallah of Islamabad High Court to probe alleged embezzlement in registration of private medical colleges in 2014.

The latter commission recommended closing 11 of the 19 medical colleges because they did not fulfil basic requirements nor provided necessary facilities.

Published in Dawn, October 14th , 2015

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