KARACHI: Eight SMC and DMC office staff suspended
Sources in the provincial health department said a notification in this regard was issued on Saturday, as part of the disciplinary proceedings initiated by the government, in the wake of reports of the Governor’s Inspection and Evaluation Team (GI&ET) and the principal of Sindh Medical College.
After a couple of inquiries and scrutiny of admission documents carried out by the GIET, University of Karachi and the SMC authorities, it was found that over 100 reportedly non-deserving students had been given admission to the SMC in the past few years.
The students who were allegedly given admission in violation of the prescribed merit lists, rules and entrance test managed to acquire an uninterrupted education and appeared in examinations conducted by the University of Karachi from time to time, the sources said.
On Feb 26 after a group of affected students roughed up some of the SMC staff members, the latter admitted before the SMC principal that “peculiar dealings” had taken place with students. The employees pleaded guilty of forming a nexus with the university and health department personnel in accepting millions of rupees from students or their parents as illegal gratification for “fake admissions,” said a senior official of the SMC.
Those who have been placed under suspension till further orders are Bashir Ahmed Memon (A/O at the SMC), Alimuddin (Assistant at the SMC), Mohammed Salim (Junior clerk at the SMC), Naeem (Junior clerk at the SMC), Aijaz Ahmed Siddiqui (Clerk at the SMC), Abdul Hadi (Programme coordinator at the SMC), Jamil Asghar (former A/O at the SMC, now at the DMC) and Mohammed Anwar (Assistant at the DMC).
PROTEST: A group of students and their parents, agitated over the reported cancellation of admissions and the consequent debarring of students from taking examinations, staged a sit-in at the SMC.
A source at the college said students had gathered outside the college in the morning and later walked on the premises, which caused panic among the students at different departments.
No untoward incident took place as the police and Rangers personnel were called in. The students’ group, who also blocked the college gate, held a meeting with the college principal, Dr Akbar H. Soomro, the sources said.
On the pursuance of the students, the principal had, in writing, requested the advocate-general of Sindh that students should be dealt with leniency so they might be able to appear in their examinations. Since staff members have also pleaded guilty, the students, particularly those of IIIrd, IVth and final year, deserved sympathetic considerations. The principal has written to the AG to move for regularization of examinations for the debarred students, while their cases are in the court of law.
According to affected students, they were misguided and deceived by the administrative staff of the college. One of the students said Saturday’s protest was aimed at conveying a message to the people at the helm of affairs that the future of students should be saved, otherwise they would be left with no option but to make it a matter of life and death.
They urged the president, prime minister, Sindh governor, chief minister, health department and other authorities to taken a decision in the best interest of the affected students and their parents. The students had also began approaching provincial ministers, it was learnt.
It was too late to take such a harsh decision, said a student, maintaining that a high-level government committee should take into consideration the “plight” of students.
Sources claimed that the GI&ET had proposed to the competent authority to order prosecution of the students, college and university staff and all those involved in the admission scam. It had also recommended the scrutiny of admission proceedings of at least the past three years in other government medical colleges in the province, the source.