Nursing Council Scandal Triggers Parliamentary Uproar

Nadeem Tanoli

Islamabad: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on National Health Services witnessed a stormy session as lawmakers accused the Pakistan Nursing and Midwifery Council (PN&MC) of large-scale corruption, nepotism, and institutional capture, calling for criminal accountability and a complete overhaul of the nursing regulator.

The controversy, raised by MNA Syed Rafiullah after over a year of unanswered queries, centered on allegations of illegal appointments, financial mismanagement, and defiance of parliamentary authority. Legislators described the PN&MC as a “captured institution” controlled by an influential clique that had turned the country’s top nursing body into a personal empire.

At the core of the dispute is the illegal appointment of a nurse from Polyclinic Hospital, identified as Ms. Yasmeen, who was allegedly absorbed into a permanent PN&MC post in violation of recruitment laws. The Law Ministry and Establishment Division reportedly confirmed that the appointment contravened the Pakistan Nursing Council Act, which requires all hirings to be contractual and approved by the full council. Lawmakers also accused the Health Ministry of concealing facts for more than 18 months and recycling identical responses to shield those involved.

The committee further examined financial irregularities, including a manipulated tender in which a contractor allegedly submitted two bids under different names to win the contract fraudulently. Members demanded a third-party financial audit of the PN&MC, calling it a critical test of transparency in Pakistan’s health regulation sector.

Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal acknowledged the institutional failures but said the government had already acted by promulgating a Presidential Ordinance that dissolved the previous council structure, placing administrative control under the Ministry of Health. He termed the move a “paradigm shift” aimed at dismantling entrenched power networks and restoring accountability.

However, committee members voiced concerns over bias in the new ordinance, noting that the requirement for provincial members to be female PhD holders from private colleges would effectively exclude regions such as Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan. Lawmakers demanded revisions to ensure fair provincial and gender representation before the law’s permanent enactment.

The committee directed the Health Ministry to pursue disciplinary and legal action against those responsible for illegal appointments and financial misconduct. It also decided that the next session would review the new Nursing Council Ordinance clause by clause to address its weaknesses and ensure inclusivity.

Minister Kamal admitted that Pakistan’s nursing sector had suffered from PN&MC’s collapse, noting that only 1,300 Pakistani nurses currently work abroad compared with 688,000 from India. He pledged to modernize the council through automation, digitization, and transparent governance to eliminate corruption and human discretion.

The meeting concluded with directives for the ministry to withdraw frivolous lawsuits filed by the former PN&MC leadership and to launch a comprehensive accountability drive. Lawmakers agreed that the council’s dysfunction mirrors a wider governance crisis in healthcare regulation across the country.