PESHAWAR: Insaf Paramedics Forum, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has announced to stage a sit-in outside the office of the provincial health secretary after Eidul Azha, alleging corruption, nepotism, and violation of merit in the health department.

Addressing a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Monday, the forum’s chairman Habib Khan, accompanied by president Mian Hazrat Bilal, general secretary Naimat Shah Afridi, and other cabinet members, accused the health secretary of patronising illegal appointments and of administrative irregularities that, he said, had damaged public trust in the department.

He alleged that a Grade-17 medical officer had been appointed directly to a Grade-19 post in the medical faculty of Allied Health Sciences in violation of rules, despite the candidate lacking the required qualifications and experience. He further claimed that officials previously removed over corruption allegations had been reappointed in the promotions cell against merit.

Habib Khan also accused the department of ignoring seniority lists to promote and post a lady doctor, allegedly a close relative of the health secretary, at Molvi Jee Hospital. He alleged that patients in government hospitals were being forced to purchase expensive medicines and injections from specific medical stores despite the availability of free medicines in hospitals.

The forum demanded transparent investigations into alleged irregularities in postings, transfers, procurement of medicines, and public-private partnership projects in the health sector. It also called for an audit of all postings, transfers, and extraordinary leave cases over the past two years.

Warning of a wider protest campaign, Habib Khan said the forum would stage a sit-in outside the health secretary’s office after Eid if the provincial government failed to remove the official from his position.

Following the press conference, forum leaders and workers staged a demonstration and chanted slogans against the health secretary.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2026