Murad directs health dept to remove doctors working as project directors

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed health department to remove all the doctors working as project directors of different projects as their job is to serve patients.

“This is not their job – their job is to serve ailing people of the province and let them do their work,” said the CM Sindh while presiding over a development review meeting of health department here at the CM House.

The chief minister said that it was quite surprising for him that instead of posting doctors in hospitals they have been made Project directors and assigned administration jobs.

“This is an injustice with them and their jobs. You have taken them away from the jobs they are trained and have assigned them the work for which they are not trained,” he observed and directed the health minister and secretary to put up a proposal for removing them.

Minister Health Dr Sikandar Mendhro briefing the chief minister said that that there was a Rs14 billion development portfolio of health department. He added that over all there were 146, including 89 on going scheme of Rs14 billion, of them Rs5245.374 million have been released against which expenditures stand at Rs1677.873 million.

Giving the beak up of the schemes, secretary Health Fazal Pechuho said that there were 22 schemes of Rs 2154.94 million prioritized to complete them by the end of this financial year.

The finance department has released Rs2154.920 million and against which Rs252.774 million have been utilized and the remaining amount would also be released shortly.

He said that there were 65 other schemes of Rs6985.331 million against which Rs3680.677 have been released while the expenditures are Rs 1396.724 million. Apart from it there are two foreign funded schemes with a Rs228.499 million against which the government has released Rs66.765 million and the expenditures are Rs28.375 million.

Mr Pechuho said that there are also 57 new schemes of Rs4631.250 million against which Rs21.250 million have been released.

The new schemes are in approving phase, therefore there was no expenditures on them.
The meeting was attended by Health Minister Dr Sikandar Mendhro, Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon, Additional chief Secretary (Dev) M. Waseem, Secretary Health Fazal Pechuho, Principal Secretary to CM Naveed Kamran Baloch, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi and other concerned officers.