0
LAHORE: The health authorities shelved the report of an inquiry conducted into the allegations of taking bribe from the nurses who wanted to get recruited in a special squad meant to handle dengue patients at public hospitals, after a high official was found involved in the scam, Dawn has learnt reliably.
The inquiry was finalised by health Deputy Secretary (general) Dr Shoaib Anwar a couple of months ago on the complaints that some officials received Rs40,000 to Rs70,000 from some nurses belonging to different districts for their recruitment, a source told Dawn.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had ordered ‘immediate’ recruitment of 1,000 nurses while chairing a meeting of Core Group and Special Emergency Committee on Sept 19, 2011 for their posting at public sector health facilities, especially to handle dengue fever patients.
Despite repeated warnings by the experts that dengue virus might spread rapidly in March (next month), the health department has neither finalised the process of the staff nurses’ recruitment nor it took action against the officials found guilty in the probe.
Former health secretary Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan had deputed the then health additional secretary (admin) Khurshid Zaidi and some other senior officials to complete the process of nurses’ recruitment. Some 10 section officers from the services and general administration department (S& GAD) were also hired for the purpose, the source said.
During recruitment process, the source said, the health department after receiving complaints suspended two administrative officials on charges of receiving illegal gratifications from some of the candidates.
The source said that following these suspensions a thorough probe was initiated into the matter that found a senior official of the department involved in the scam. However, at this stage the health department called a meeting and the inquiry officer was told to ‘shelve’ the report to avoid wrath of the chief minister, the source said.
By that time, he said, 300 candidates had been issued job letters and the recruitment process was halted.
The source further said another major reason for stopping the recruitment process was some objections raised by some senior officials to the ‘poorly formulated’ interview eligibility criteria which was not detailed and left many aspects to the discretion of those conducting the interviews.
The source said objection was also raised to conducting interviews in Lahore as several candidates had to reach the provincial capital from far-flung districts like Rajanpur, Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, etc after bearing hefty travel and lodging expenses.
When contacted, health special secretary Dawood Bareach expressed his ignorance about action on the inquiry report, confirming that initially two officials were suspended for their alleged involvement in the scam.
Mr Bareach said the recruitment of the staff nurses was made in two or three phases.
