ABBOTTABAD: The Peoples Doctors Forum (PDF), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has asked the government to constitute a special advisory committee consisting of representatives of all doctors’ associations, health managers, intelligentsia and think tanks to implement the Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) Reforms Act 2015 and end the present unrest in the health sector.

Dr Daud Iqbal, PDF spokesman, told mediapersons after the general body meeting of the forum here on Sunday that though the MTI Reforms Act had been implemented in the province, confusion still prevailed in all tertiary care hospitals, including the Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad, as regulations were yet to be prepared. He claimed that the members selected for the board of governors (BoG) for each hospital were not capable to handle the situation.

Dr Iqbal said that the committee would advise the health department for smooth implementation of MTI Act and recommend removal of anomalies. He said that PDF had discussed different issues related to doctors and expressed concern over the non-implementation of the recent high court judgment in its true spirit as a retired employee working as hospital director was not replaced at ATH.

He also questioned the role of board of governors at ATH, claiming that the entire health structure there had been paralysed from the last five days as none of the BOG members bothered to visit the hospital. The PDF also asked the government to evaluate the one year performance of the BOG members.

The spokesman said that the orders of the provincial health department transferring 39 staff members of ATH had no legal standing after the MTI Reforms Act as these institutions had become autonomous bodies. He said that the medical director was also bypassed in these orders and most of the lower grade employees were transferred to other cities.

He claimed that the list did not include any of the protesters or representatives of unions and the transfers were based on personal vendetta. He pointed out that two hospital employees Maqsoodur Rehman and Zahoor Ahmed, who had been absorbed in ATH in pursuance of the high court decision of 2014, were also transferred to Swabi and D I Khan, respectively.

The PDF spokesman said that class-IV employees were transferred to other districts while bypassing rules and procedures. He demanded of the authorities concerned to resolve the issue related to paramedical staff in ATH immediately to ensure smooth delivery of patient care services.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2016