Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa has nominated retired Justice Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi as chairperson of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) tribunal. In addition, Prime Minister Imran Khan has nominated retired Justice Riaz Ahmed, retired Justice Mehmood Maqbool Bajwa, Prof Javaid Raza Gardezi and Prof Saeed Qureshi and its members.
According to documents available with Dawn, the assistant registrar of the Supreme Court has told the Ministry of NationalHealth Services (NHS) that former Lahore High Court judge Mr Rizvi has been nominated as chairperson of the tribunal.
The documents say that the tribunal was established under section 34 of the PMDC Ordinance 2019.
An NHS ministry notification available with Dawn stated that in pursuance of section 34 of the ordinance, the prime minister was pleased to establish the tribunal to exercise jurisdiction under the ordinance and to appoint its members.
A PMDC official, requesting anonymity, said that although the chairperson and members of the tribunal have been nominated, no one is aware of the rules.
`There is no mention in the ordinance of what the remuneration of the members would be, what their tenure will be. It is mentioned that there will be offices of the tribunal in the centre and the provinces, but we have no idea who will bear the expenses. The budget of the PMDC hasbeen passed and there is no mention of it, he said.
`The tribunal is very important because health practitioners, medical institutions, concerned individual and even employees can go to the tribunal against the council`s decisions. We have been hearing that the rules for the tribunal are being made by the NHS ministry but no one is aware of them,` he added.
The official said that Mr Rizvi is well aware of the PMDC`s issues because he investigated the registration of private medical colleges.
`We expect that he will look into irregularities in the council and streamline issues,` he said.
However, the official said, the inclusion of Mr Bajwa has caused some confusion because he is also a member of the Federal Shariat Court and it is unclear whether a Federal Shariat Court judge can be a judge on a health tribunal.When contacted, NHS Director General Dr Asad Hafeez said the rules have been made and vetted by the Ministry of Law and Justice.
`We have sent the rules to the Printing Corporation of Pakistan to publish them in the official gazette. It must be in a queue and will be published soon. However, as per practice the ministry`s issuance date will be published on it,` he said.
When asked, Dr Hafeez said remuneration for the members of the tribunal will be equal to that of high court judges.
`All other issues, such as expenses of offices and tenure of members are also mentioned in the rules, and everything will become clear once they are published in the gazette,` he said.
He added that a Federal Shariat Court judge can become a member of a heath tribunal, as former PMDC president Mian Shakirullah Jan was also a member of another body.
