ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Health Abdul Qadir Patel has taken control to hire employees on hundreds of vacant posts in two major public sector hospitals in Islamabad, Poly Clinic and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for political gains.
Recently PIMS announced around 350 job posts for medical and paramedic staff through the media, ranging from BPS1 to BPS15. Sources in the hospital told wenews.pk that it was the domain of the Executive Director of the hospital to recruit for these vacant posts, but the health ministry intervened and took all the applications the hospital received in response to the job advertisement.
An official in the OPD department told wenews.pk that the health minister is bringing all the staff from Sindh for his political gains in the upcoming general elections. He said, “We have given our lifetime services to this hospital, and now when we are getting retired and want our children, who also meet the criteria, are being ignored, and people from their constituency are being appointed by overlooking the eligibility criteria.”
He said that the ED of the hospital is already on an ad-hoc basis; therefore, he is not raising his voice or exercising his powers because he wants to save his skin.
It is also pertinent to mention here that staff at PIMS held a token strike for one hour on Tuesday to register their concerns over the issue. They demand the ED, Rana Imran Sikander, to appoint the staff by following due process and exercising his power. The staff also warned that if the health ministry appointed the staff in this illegal way, they would go on full-time strike until the issue was resolved.
When contacted Polyclinic for their opinion, an official shared on the condition of anonymity that around 50 posts in 24 different categories are advertised by the health ministry, and the secretary of health will lead the commission made for appointments. He said that the permanent ED of Polyclinic retired from his job around two months ago, and the recent one is working on a ‘Look After’ basis; therefore, he has no power to appoint the required staff.
It is important to mention that both major public sectors of Islamabad have been running without permanent Executive Directors for months.
When contacted for the official statement, the health ministry PRO Sajjad said, “All the appointments are being made in accordance with the standard recruitment procedure. This is not the first time we are hiring, so we know what the procedure and appointments are being made on merits.”
When asked about the token strike in PIMS about these hiring, he replied, “I don’t know what is going on in the PIMS.”
Responding to a question about permanent appointments of EDs in both hospitals, he said, “Process is underway, and when it’s completed, the appointments will be made.”
