PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday asked the provincial chief secretary and health secretary to file separate replies to a petition challenging the appointment of Dr Nowsherwan Barki, a relative of ruling PTI chief Imran Khan, by the government as the chairman of the board of governors of the Lady Reading Hospital, the largest public sector hospital in the province.

Justice Qaiser Rasheed Khan and Justice Mohammad Ghazanfar Khan also issued notice to Dr Barki seeking explanation on the points raised by petitioner, Prof Riaz Anwar, head of the department of cardiovascular division at the LRH.

The bench also stopped the government from acting against the petitioner for the time being.

Professor challenged Imran Khan’s relative as chairman of hospital’s BoG

The petitioner claimed that Dr Barki had been illegally appointed as Chairman, Board of Governors, Lady Reading Hospital, and no proper procedure had been followed by the government in respect of his appointment.

He claims that the so-called BoG’s chairman was not only interfering in works of LRH but also the government health sector and other hospitals of the province even though he had no authority to do so.

The respondents in the petition are the KP government through chief secretary, provincial health secretary, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, and Dr Barki.

Mian Muhibullah Kakakhel, lawyer for the petitioner, said Dr Barki had shifted to the US in 1966 and later secured the US nationality but didn’t return.

He sad Dr Barki didn’t possess Pakistani national identity card issued by Nadra.

The lawyer claimed that Dr Barki had been running the hospital from the US online and that he was appointed as member of the hospital’s BoG on May 6, 2015, and was made the board chairman on verbal orders.

He said the PMDC rules also prohibited the appointment of a person aged more than 70 years to a medical institution.

The lawyer claimed since Dr Barki was the cousin of Imran Khan and funded the ruling PTI and therefore, he had been interfering in the affairs of all medical teaching institutes of the province.

He claimed that Dr Barki had organised the Insaf Doctors Forum, part of the PTI, in KP hospitals and had been presiding over its meetings over the Skype.

During the hearing, the bench observed that it would have been appropriate to appoint to such posts the people, who were competent and had preferred to serve here despite having the opportunity to work abroad.

The petitioner’s lawyer claimed that previously on the verbal directions of Dr Barki, the postgraduate medical institute was dissolved and that his client was removed from the post of its dean.

He added that in reality, Dr Barki headed all major hospitals and no one could dare challenge his authority. The lawyer claimed that Dr Barki had been visiting hospitals with the full protocol of health minister and that all appointments and removals were made on his orders.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2017