PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health secretary has rejected the report of the director-general (health services) on the illegal occupation of residences in government hospitals as incomplete and sought a complete report.

He, however, set no deadline for the purpose.

“I received the details of hospital residences in six out of 35 districts and therefore, I asked [DG] for complete details,” Mohammad Tahir Orakzai told Dawn.

The secretary said the unlawful use of houses in public sector hospitals had been adversely affecting patient care.

He said the government had built houses for staff in hospitals and illegal employees will be evicted,” he said.

Directs health DG to file complete details of illegal occupants for eviction

The secretary said all those illegal inmates would be evicted from hospital residences with the help of the district administrations.

Sources in the health department told Dawn that a report was compiled by the DG (health services) on Jan 19 about the illegal occupation of residences in hospitals across the province but it had ‘gone missing’ at the health secretariat.

They insisted that the health secretariat’s officials, who were named in the report, could be to blame for it.

On Jan 1, the health secretary directed the DG (health services) to compile a list of people using the official residences of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other staff in hospitals and set Jan 31 as the deadline for its filing with his office.

The officials said the initiative was meant to evict illegal occupants from hospital residences and allot those places to hospital doctors and paramedics as part of efforts to improve patient care.

They claimed that the DG office began collecting the relevant data from all hospitals and submitted a ‘detailed’ report along with recommendations to the health secretary’s office pointing out 254 such residences, including bungalows, flats and hostel rooms.

The officials added that the illegal occupants of those residences included employees of district administrations, district judiciary, and forest, police and other departments.

They said the DG recommended that the health secretariat take up the issue with the chief secretary, inspector general of police and other relevant senior officials to ensure the eviction of illegal occupants from hospital accommodations and allot them to staff members.

However, the health secretary sent a letter on Jan 27 expressing displeasure about the failure of the director (administration), focal person for the matter, in collecting the sought-after information and warned that his and others’ lethargy would be mentioned in their performance evaluation reports.

In the letter, the secretary said even the medical superintendents and district health officers had failed to get details about hospital residences in their respective areas.

He ordered the conveying of his displeasure to the DHOs and MSs on the matter and directed the DG office to produce a report.

The sources said that the DG office stayed in contact with all relevant DHOs and MS and compiled a report about the number of illegally occupied hospital residences, names of illegal people along with those of their departments, and the period since they had been occupying those residences, and sent it to the health secretary.

They claimed that the secretary had taken notice of the matter after the DG office complained that many health facilities in the province didn’t have essential staff especially at night due to a lack of accommodation.

The officials insisted that district and tehsil headquarters hospitals and basic health units had residences for staff members but they’re mostly used by employees of other departments.

They said the illegal occupation coupled with the use of free electricity and gas had been going on for years.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2022