KP treasury lawmakers seek halt to non-local health appointments in remote districts

PESHAWAR: Treasury members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday voiced concern over the appointment of non-local health workers and clerical staff in government hospitals in remote parts of the province, particularly the merged tribal districts, and called for changes to the existing policy.

The issue came up during a sitting chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati. Lawmakers said the provincial government’s policy treating health workers and clerical staff below BPS-16 as part of the provincial cadre was flawed. They argued that appointing people from outside the relevant districts had not helped improve services because such employees often did not continue working at distant postings.

Issue raised in assembly

Treasury lawmaker Asif Khan Mehsud sought the chair’s ruling to stop the ongoing appointment process in Upper South Waziristan. In a calling attention notice, he told the house that the Education Testing and Evaluation Authority had held tests for posts in various districts to fill vacancies in hospitals.

He said candidates from other districts had been preferred in the affected areas, while eligible and qualified local applicants were overlooked, adding that the matter was creating resentment among educated youth in those districts.

Mr Mehsud said the geographical conditions, continued unrest in the tribal districts and the existing administrative structure made it difficult to appoint and retain non-local staff on a permanent basis. Attributing the concern to his observations in the house, he said such appointments had often ended with employees leaving their posts and moving to hospitals and basic health units in other districts, leaving facilities in remote areas unable to function properly.

“It has come to our notice that in the said districts, candidates from other districts were given preference and appointed, while the qualified and eligible candidates from the local district were ignored,” he said speaking on the floor.

“It has been seen that all such non-local appointments have eventually left their posts after some time and gone to other districts’ hospitals and BHUs, rendering those facilities non-functional. Despite spending millions of rupees, the local population is deprived of basic treatment and medical facilities, as local residents are not appointed,” he further said.

Demand for district-based appointments

Mr Mehsud said appointments in the health department in Bajaur and Upper and Lower Dir should be made on a priority basis from among local candidates. He also called for the immediate withdrawal of the current ETEA quota for non-locals, saying this was necessary to protect the rights of the province’s youth.

He informed the assembly that in the ETEA test, many local candidates had failed because they were unable to compete with applicants from Peshawar and other more developed districts. He asked the chair to stop the process until the rules were amended.

Law Minister Aftab Alam Afridi backed the concern and said non-locals had also been appointed to various law cadre posts in hospitals in Kohat. He questioned why a BPS-12 post in the health department had been placed in the provincial cadre and said it should instead be treated as a district cadre post, similar to the elementary and secondary education department where posts up to grade 16 had been declared district cadre positions.

MPA Ikramullah Ghazi also said the same issue had surfaced in Mansehra district. Referring to remote areas there, he said non-locals could not effectively perform duties in places such as Oghi and urged the government to prioritise local candidates in the larger public interest.

Matter sent to committee

The speaker directed the government to amend the rules to facilitate the appointment of local candidates. He also referred the matter to the relevant standing committee of the assembly for detailed discussion and recommendations, and ordered that the appointment process be withheld until the committee reached a decision.

The sitting was later adjourned until June 1 because of a lack of quorum.