Health dept to recruit people on merit, says minister

KARACHI: Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho on Saturday said that no political or reference based recruitment will be made in her department in the future and transparent system will be introduced soon for hiring staff on merit.

She made these statements while talking to the media during her visit to Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS). DUHS Vice Chancellor Dr Saeed Quraishy, Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr Zarnaz WVice-Chancelloric Medicine Department head Prof Mukarram Ali were also present on this occasion.

Pechuho said a competency test would be conducted for the posts of district health officers (DHO) and medical superintendents (MS) through DUHS. This was the first visit of Pechuho after assuming charge as health minister.

She further said that she had passed out from DUHS as an MBBS graduate in 1979. Compared to that era, the campus seems to be much groomed and progressed, she said.

She stated, “I will work for further improvement of the campus by providing the latest facilities and advanced medical education. The up-gradation of the Skills Lab and other projects of Dow University will be accelerated now,” she added.

She said due to successful polio campaigns in the province, there has not been any reported case of polio since January 2018 while five cases of polio have been reported during that time Balochistan and KP.

She said that induction at Civil Hospital and Trauma Center will be completed soon as due to lack of specialized faculty and doctors, people were not provided with adequate healthcare facilities.

The certificate courses will be initiated for the training of staff and this responsibility is also handed over to the DUHS so that trained persons could be available in the health sector.

In an answer regarding the lack of lady medico-legal officers (MLO), she said that the medical officers (MO) at government hospitals could deal medico-legal cases, thus, there must not be any issues regarding this.

She further said, “I feel pleasure while visiting DUHS and is glad to see a large number of female students.” She opined that females of Pakistan seem to have accepted the challenge to be professional while fulfilling their duties at home.

She spent some time with the students and visited different departments. She said that she would work for the progress and advancement of the university.