Merit what? Public hospitals to get `dose` of PML-N workers
By Asif Chaudhry |
LAHORE, June 28: In what appears a blatant disregard of merit, the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Tuesday handed down the ‘final lists’ of ‘candidates’, who happen to be PML-N workers, to the heads of at least three public health institutions of Lahore for their appointment against 215 permanent lower-cadre posts advertised in news papers, it is learnt.
None of the PML-N workers named in the list has gone through the recruitment process as was followed by the ‘ordinary’ applicants the last month, a source in the CM’s Secretariat told Dawn.
“It will be a classic example of bypassing the official procedures if the health institutions – Children Hospital, Lady Wallington Hospital and Jinnah Hospital – recruit these candidates on the recommendation of the secretariat,” says a senior government official.
“You are directed to consider these candidates finalised for the posts advertised in local newspapers. Prepare their appointment orders and submit to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat within two days,” were the instructions issued to the heads of three institutions in a meeting held at 7-Club Road on Tuesday, an official said requesting anonymity.
The lists of party-backed candidates were handed over to Children’s Hospital Medical Director Prof Dr Ehsan Waheed Rathore, Lady Wallington Hospital MS Dr Muhammad Afzal and Jinnah Hospital MS Dr Afzal Shaheen.
The meeting was presided over by secretary to chief minister Tauqeer Shah while an advisor to CM, Mansha Ullah Butt, was also present.
The lists were finalised for 70 posts of Children Hospital, 112 of Lady Wallington Hospital and 33 posts of Jinnah Hospital.
The advertised jobs included posts of stenographers, laundry managers, ward boys, operation theatre attendants, security
guards, sterilizer operators, cooks, sanitary workers, ward attendants, gatekeepers, senior biomedical technicians, etc.
The source said that many of the candidates included in these lists had no relevant experience or qualification considered essential for handling technical posts. Such recruitments might create legal complications not only for the employees but also for those involved in recruitment process, he added.
The source said the Mayo Hospital had advertised 142 posts in April against which some 36,000 candidates filed applications.
The interviews of the short-listed applicants were conducted in May.
The source said the Mayo Hospital administration stopped the process of issuing appointment letters to the qualified candidates on the interference of the Punjab government as serious differences had developed between two senior PML-N leaders, each wanting to get his own workers appointed against the posts. Resultantly, no recruitment could be made at the Mayo Hospital so far, he added.
He said that to avoid such ‘complications’ in future, the provincial government called the medical superintendents of all the public hospitals at an emergent meeting in the end of May at 8-Club Road, exclusively to sort out the issue of political recruitments. Tauqeer Shah and additional secretary Abdul Qayum were also present.
In the meeting, the source said, the public hospitals’ heads were clearly told the recruitments would be made only on the Punjab government’s recommendation.
Most of the public sector heath facilities, including Mayo Hospital, Lahore General Hospital, Children Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Jinnah Hospital etc had advertised vacant posts and the recruitment process was going on there for the last one month or so.
When contacted, CM’s advisor Mansha Uallah strongly dispelled the ‘impression’ that political recruitments were being made at the public hospitals. He claimed all recruitments were being made on merit. He also denied that lists of PML-N workers were given to the medical superintends of the hospitals for their hiring against vacant posts.
LAHORE: Senior Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab, Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa has said that MQM was their ally in the past and that in current situation there were chances to join hands together, Geo News reported.
