Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: It is amazing that a school teacher not only succeeded to get deputation against the post of BPS-18 in the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHSRC) but also managed to recruit his relatives against higher posts in the attached departments of the ministry.

Neither advertisements were given for the recruitments nor any test and interviews of the blue-eyed candidates were conducted against the posts of up to BPS-17 in the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) in 2016, Daily Times has learnt.

NHSRC Ministry sources revealed that an ordinary teacher of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) Islamabad, Muhammad Azam Ghakhar, not only got deputation in the ministry against the post of Section Officer Legal BPS-18 but also managed to recruit his relatives by exploiting his close terms with the health minister.

The sources informed that Dr. Maria was recruited against the post of In charge Registration Cell PMDC BPS-17 and Ms. Benish was recruited as In charge Verification PMDC BPS-17 on adhoc basis in 2016 without fulfilling the legal procedure. Likewise, another employee, Muhammad Hassan, who was reportedly the nephew of SO Azam Ghakhar, was recruited as assistant (BPS-16) and working as the PA of the Registrar PMDC.

The recruitments were not announced in the print media and no other legal procedure was followed by the administration while the blue-eyed people availed jobs overnight, said an official of the NHSRC on condition of anonymity.

He said the government had bound the departments to ensure recruitments against the posts of BPS-16 and above through the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) but in these recruitments the authority concerned flouted all rules and regulations in the air to award its favourite people. The officials said that Azam Ghakhar was the front man of Health Minister Saira Afzal Tarar and also belonged to her native town Hafizabad.

He was a deputy headmaster in designation and also had been working as Assistant Director in the FDE and Deputy Director in the Law and Justice Division, he said.

When approached Azam Ghakar admitted he had managed to recruit Hassan as assistant in PMDC without fulfilling the legal procedure.

He said the employee was most deserving. He, however, expressed ignorance over the recruitments of other three employees in the PMDC, saying that he had not used any influence for their recruitments.

The reporter repeatedly tried to contact the President PMDC to get his view point on the illegal appointments but he was not available for comments.

However, the Secretary, Ministry of NHSRC Muhammad Ayub Sheikh, said that the ministry wouldn’t extend the deputation period of SO Azam Ghakhar.

He said, after viewing the record, he would be able to further comment on the issue.