PESHAWAR: The health department has decided to remove inactive members from the Board of Governors of medical teaching institutions, according to sources.

They said that boards of governors for district level hospitals were formed in haste without any homework after those health facilities were declared medical teaching institutions.

“In January 2015, the provincial government passed Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act to change the old system and improve patients’ care,” said officials associated with the proceedings.

Initially, the law was implemented at Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar and Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad where 10-member Board of Governors (BoG) was established for each hospital to pave way for enforcement of the law.

Officials say boards for district level hospitals formed in haste without homework

Subsequently, the posts of chief executive officers, medical superintendents and deputy medical superintendents were abolished and the posts of medical director, hospital director, finance director and nursing director were created. These officials at each medical teaching institution work on the advice of the relevant BoG.

The government focused on the four MTIs and after a period of about three years, it was able to put the new system in place and introduced reforms despite tough resistance from doctors, paramedics as well as supporting staff because most of the employees feared that the new law meant to privatise their jobs.

However, the law was enforced and the employees were told that the hospitals would remain under the control of government after implementation of the new law.

Sources said that from the beginning it was decided that the law would be enforced in the designated institutions first and if succeeded it would be extended to the district level hospitals.

“Without waiting for the outcome of the enforcement of the new law at Peshawar and Abbottabad-based MTIs, it was extended to Mardan, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu and Nowshera hospitals after a period ranging between one to two years. It caused problems to those hospitals instead of benefit,” a senior official told Dawn.

He said that unlike the four MTIs where search committees were formed to nominate BoG members before launching the reforms initiative, the government announced BoG in haste for district hospitals owing to which the level of progress was unsatisfactory.

Sources said that PTI chairman Imran Khan was asking the relevant authorities to expedite the reforms process at the district level to improve patients’ care but given the lackluster approach of the BoG concerned, the progress was not up to a desired level.

“We don’t need a 10-member BoG at the district level but three or four dedicated people, who take interest in enforcement of the new law, will be sufficient. Currently, the district level MTIs are legally governed by BoG and the health department has lost control over them,” said sources.

Officials said that they spent couple of months to select BoG members through a search committee for four MTIs so they were able to find competent people with vast experience in health sector owing to which they made progress.

“At the district level, the nomination of BoG members was made without efforts owing to which the MTIs didn’t make any progress,” they added.

Officials said that they were looking to find devoted people for BoG at district level to materialise the reforms plan.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2017