Fairness In UHS Exams In Doubt Amid Strike

Lahore: The transparency in examination system under the University of Health Sciences is being questioned ahead of various supplementary and allied health sciences exams, scheduled to start on Monday (today), as the staff deputed for conducting exams are on a strike for an indefinite period, leaving the Examination Department with little options to do the job effectively.


It has been learnt that MBBS third and final professional supplementary examinations 2009, and various annual examinations of allied health sciences of the candidates of the Institute of Public Health (IPH), Lahore, will start from Monday (today) and BSc (Hons) examinations are scheduled to start from Tuesday (tomorrow). On the other hand, the entire non-gazetted staff, particularly of Examinations Department including Conduct, Tabulations, Secrecy sections, are on strike for regularisation.

The ongoing strike of the universityís non-gazetted staff had badly affected the official work of the university. However, in order to cope with the extraordinary situation, sources said, the UHS administration had provided reinforcement to the Examinations Department by sparing staff from various departments of the university as well as students of the allied health sciences and MPhil classes for temporary support in conducting the examinations. It has also affected studies and research work of students.

The UHS move has also raised serious doubts among various stakeholders regarding the sanctity and secrecy of the examinations system in the absence of experienced staff to conduct exams in a foolproof manner. It is also learnt that the payments of internal and external examiners were also pending due to the ongoing strike of employees. Meanwhile, the non-gazetted employees of the UHS believed that university administration had been planning to run over the livelihood of nearly 180 grade 1 to 15 employees, protesting for regularisation, and their families after financially killing more than 270 employees since the establishment of the UHS in October 2002.

The UHS had issued a final notice through an advertisement in newspapers whereby it warned all non-gazetted employees to join their duties till April 3, 2010 or face termination from service. The UHS issued fresh warning letters to the employees for failing to join their duties till April 3, 2010, after having already sent their contract letters at their residential addresses.

However, the UHS employees refused to accept the renewed contract letters of the duration of five-year-and-six-months and stood firm in their demand of regularisation of all non-gazetted contract employees in compliance with the Punjab governmentís orders to regularise all the contract employees from grade 1 to 15 in all government institutions, thereby, abolishing the contract policy in the province. They claimed that the UHS administration was trying to harass them through various means as they were contacting their families to force them to join their duties by accepting fresh extensions to their contracts. "Various MNAs and MPAs have also put pressure on our parents to force us to join duties," they alleged, adding that all the employees were, however, determined to continue their protest till the fulfillment of their demand. The UHS Board of Governors is expected to take a decision to seal the fate of the employees on Monday (today) as the deadline given to employees elapsed on April 3, 2010. UHS Vice-Chancellor Prof Hussain Mubashar Malik, Controller of Examinations Dr Junaid Sarfraz and other officials, despite holding public offices, avoid to make themselves available for comments on the issues pertaining to employeesí strike and examinations and suspension of official work in the university.

However, the UHS spokesman, when contacted, said the ongoing strike of non-gazetted employees had not affected the conduct of examinations as university had conducted nine examinations during the last two weeks. He said that essential staff of examinations, including controller of examinations, four assistant controller of examinations, all female employees, were performing their duties as usual. Besides, he said, 58 out of 171 non-gazetted employees, who were earlier on strike, had joined their duties in the university.

In view of the MBBS third and final professional supplementary examinations 2009, scheduled to start on Monday, the spokesman said that the UHS Examinations Department had made all the necessary arrangements to conduct the exams smoothly, as the already-prepared question papers had been dispatched to the examinations centres all over the province. "The papers are neither postponed so far nor will they be postponed in future as well," he maintained. Meanwhile, the UHS employees continued their 24-hour hunger strike on the third consecutive day in front of the Punjab Assembly on Sunday, although they had started protest demonstration and partial hunger strike on March 29 against universityís decision not to regularise their services and closing the university gates on them. The employees spent their night in the open on Sunday after bearing the hardships of hunger and scorching sun on the third consecutive day just outside the Khadim-e-Punjab Secretariat.

The Punjab governmentís top political hierarchy seems to be testing the UHS employees nerves by giving them a cold shoulder in their struggle for regularisation. The protestors regretted that none of the Punjab governmentís representatives visited the UHS employees, protesting in a state of hunger, to convince them to call off their hunger strike with some kind of assurance regarding their demand of regularisation. Khurram Jahangir Watoo, a PPP MNA from Okara, was a lone visitor to the UHSís hunger strike camp so far, who had assured to knock all the doors, including Governor/Chancellorís and the parliament, for fulfillment of the protestorsí demand.

Unfaltering in their resolve against all odds, the UHS employees were not ready to bow and they were ready for a befitting reply to the oppressive response from the UHS administration and apathy of the provincial government. They were holding banners and placards and shouting slogans against the UHS administration. They announced to continue their strike till death for fulfillment of their demand. The news