nomenclature of his post was changed and made according to the new rules.For the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), which is the oldest and largest public sector hospital, Prof Dr Aamir Ghafoor was appointed as medical director and Dr Adnan Taj as hospital director.
Dr Aamir Ghafoor, a gastroenterologist, replaced Prof Dr Muzaffaruddin Sadiq and Dr Adnan Taj was appointed in place of Dr Mohammad Sharif, a senior member of the management cadre. Sources said that during his service, Dr Sharif earned the ire of many for following merit in appointments and selection as well as in the purchase of medicines and costly equipment.
Some senior faculty members of the LRH noted that the health department should have appointed doctors who possessed better management skills and experience to run the largest hospital of the province. Officials of the health department, however, argued that these appointments are for a short period of time and those appointed would not make any major decisions.
Dr Aftab Rabbani, an ophthalmologist, was appointed as medical director and Dr Siddiqur Rahman the hospital director of the Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) in Abbottabad.In the notification, the government didn’t mention the tenure of the newly appointed medical directors and hospital directors.
The outgoing chief executives were also appointed on acting charge basis as the government wanted to advertise these positions to hire people from the market. However, the government couldn’t fulfill its commitment due to reasons best known to it and the chief executives worked for more than a year in an acting capacity.
Secretary Health Mushtaq Ahmad Jadoon had earlier stated that medical directors and hospital directors would be appointed for a short time, may be for some days or weeks. But it seems they would work for a few months as the government is yet to complete the list of Board of Governors for the public hospitals.
Once the Board of Governors (BoGs) are selected, a search committee will be formed to appoint hospital directors and medical directors for the hospitals.On January 14, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had passed the new law to give autonomy to the public sector teaching institutions and affiliated hospitals to improve medical education and patient care.It was notified on January 19 after being signed by the governor but it took much time for the government to implement it.