PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker government is unlikely to replace the current boards of governors (BoGs) of the medical teaching institutions in the province despite the cabinet’s decision as the provincial chief secretary and health secretary have opposed such policy moves for being against the law, documents reveal.

“The cabinet should consider the relevant provisions of Section 230 of the Elections Act, 2017, before taking such [MTI board] decisions,” read the minutes of the cabinet’s March 16 meeting in which the replacement of the MTI BoGs was decided.

According to the minutes obtained by Dawn, the chief secretary explained the said provision of the Elections Act in the meeting and said that the caretaker government should “desist from making policy decisions as Section 230 of the Elections Act doesn’t allow it.”

The chief secretary also highlighted the limitations placed on the decision-making of the caretaker cabinet by Section 230 of the Elections Act.

Top bureaucrats insist law stops caretakers from making such policy moves

The health secretary, who was also present in the cabinet meeting, insisted that the dissolution of MTI BoGs would “create a vacuum and that there would be no one to administer their affairs.”

On March 17, the caretaker cabinet announced the replacement of the members of the MTI BoGs with professional people.

However, no progress was seen on it afterwards.

When contacted, adviser to the chief minister on health Prof Abid Jameel said his department would implement the cabinet’s decision.

He, however, said the department hadn’t received the minutes of the cabinet meeting in which the decision about the future of the current MTI BoGs was taken.

Legal experts say the caretaker government is to stay put for 90 days, so it is unlikely for it to complete the exercise of removing current BoG members and appoint new ones by the completion of its term on April 21.

According to them, the installation of new BoGs will take time as a search and nomination committee under the health adviser is to select new board members after the removal of the incumbents – a task that seems impossible as the time is running out for caretakers.

Senior lawyer Safiullah Muhib Kakakhel told Dawn that under the Election Act, the caretaker setup couldn’t take policy decisions and instead, it was allowed to decide the issues of public interest only during its term.

“They [caretakers] can replace MTI boards but the court will strike the move down if the intent is found to be mala fide,” he said.

The lawyer said in the past, BoG members were removed and the health secretary was entrusted by the government with running the affairs of MTIs in the absence of BoGs.

Also, the caretaker government approved the removal of BoGs in a phased manner but there is no progress on it.

The last PTI government passed the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, 2015, allowing the respective BoGs instead of the health secretariat to manage 10 teaching hospitals and their affiliated medical and dental colleges in the province.

The law took flak from the employees of MTI-covered hospitals as they considered it to be a move to privatise their organisations and do away with their pensionable services.

However, the law was amended protecting the employment of civil servants.

The MTIs continued to transfer civil servants back to the health secretariat and the directorate general (health services) and appoint staff members there on contractual basis. The MTIs argued that they couldn’t take disciplinary action against civil employees, who were governed by the Civil Servants Act.

Soon after the dissolution of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and the end of the PTI’s government a few months ago, the opponents of MTIs urged caretakers to abolish the law.

However, experts insist that the move can be taken by an elected assembly, which will legislate to restore the previous system of hospital governance under which those public sector health facilities were run by the health department.

Sources in the health department told Dawn that the summary for the removal of the members of BoGs of all 10 MTIs was vetted by the law department.

They said the tenure of BoGs had yet to complete, so many members, who had been functioning on a voluntary basis, were likely to challenge their unceremonious removal in the court of law.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2023

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