RAWALPINDI: The Holy Family Hospital (HFH) medical superintendent (MS) is without financial powers and all bills are pending for the last three months due to apathy of the Punjab government to notify his appointment.

After the retirement of Dr Nasir Mehmood in December 2019, Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Umer appointed Dr Shahzad Ahmed as the medical superintendent of the hospital. But the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department failed to notify the appointment.

Though Dr Ahmed took the charge, he is still without financial powers as his notification is yet to be issued by the Punjab government.

A senior official of RMU told Dawn that due to delay in the notification, the payment of utility bills and purchase of daily-use items for the hospital could not be made.

“Though under the law, salaries of staff and doctors are not paid through the medical superintendent but the government has allowed the incumbent to utilise the salary accounts,” he said.

Hospital is facing problems as medical superintendent cannot use financial powers until his appointment is notified

Another official of the university told Dawn that there were two reasons behind the delay in notifying Dr Ahmed.

He is going to retire by the end of the current year and under the law a person having less than one year to complete his/her service cannot be appointed as the medical superintendent.

And the second reason, he said, there were five doctors in the hospital who were senior than Dr Ahmed. They are: Dr Tariq Niazi, Dr Tabasum Parveen, Dr Farooq Sukaina, Dr Tariq Suhail and Dr Irfan Majeed.

He said interviews were conducted by the healthcare department last month in which some of the senior doctors appeared. Despite selection and appointment by the vice chancellor, the medical superintendent’s appointment notification was not issued.

“Though the hospital administration is managing the issue, the outstanding amount of utility bills has accumulated,” he said.

He said the private contractor had also not been paid the amount for payment of salaries to the sanitary staff and he (contractor) was currently managing the payment. But the sanitary staff members have warned of a strike if the payment was further delayed.

He said the purchase of stationery, necessary items for the laboratory and wards was also pending.

When contacted, Dr Ahmed said there was no such issue and administration of the hospital was being run smoothly. However, he said some financial issues were surfacing but it would also be cleared in a week or two.

The MS said after the notification, financial powers would be handed over to him and all the problems would be solved. There is no shortage of funds, he said.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2020