Chandka Medical College (CMC) has been left at the verge of destruction. This was alleged by Noor Hulio, Zulfiqar Shar and other office bearers of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University Employees Welfare Association (SHEWA) while addressing a press conference at local press club here on Sunday.
CMC was established 46 years ago by Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1973 in Larkana while Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) was announced in 2008. Since then, billions of rupees have been allocated annually without any concrete trail. Regarding the CMC, they alleged that no repairs of its bungalows, quarters, departments, roads, drainage, parks etc. have been carried out since the last 30 years.
It is unknown where the M&R budget was used. There are only two buses in CMC and not a one in SMBBMU and it is astonishing that there is no workshop for the transport. They said that in 2016, Rs.1.25 billion rupee package was received but not even half of it was seen to be spent. They further alleged that there is no ambulance to carry the emergency patients from University campus to Chandka Hospital. On the contrary, two to three private cars are available for each SMBBMU officer with a monthly 300 litres oil approval from the Syndicate. The protestors furthered their grievances on merit and corruption. The administrative posts are granted to the incompetent people having strong political backing and support. That is why corruption is at its peak in SMBBMU, a vital cause for University’s destruction, they added.
If there was no available budget, then how was the brand new car costing 0.8 million procured for Vice Chancellor (VC) who already had 4 to 5 cars at his disposal. According to disgruntled employees, there should be 1,350 employees in the university including the recent appointments; instead only 875 employees are running SMBBMU currently. They appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Prime Minister, Chairman NAB, Director General FIA, Sindh Government and its Health Department to take notice of SMBBMU bulging with corruption, order thorough probe and punish those responsible for destroying CMC & SMBBMU. They warned against accepting their just demands or else they will be forced to enlarge scope of protests. Munwar Mugheri, Jabbar Siyal, Afzal Mahar, Akbar Tunio and others were also present on the occasion.
Published in Daily Times, December 31st 2018.