PESHAWAR: Would Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Peshawar High Court (PHC) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) take note of the alleged gross violation of merit, illegal appointments and waste of public money in the Nowshera Medical College (NMC) by the chairman Board of Governors (BoG) without consent of the board members?
Gulrez Hakeem Khan, a contractor by profession, was made chairman of the BoG for NMC last year.He claimed to be an old activist of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Nowshera. He is believed to be close to the former chief minister Pervez Khattak.
The PTI government in order to introduce reforms in the health institutions and ensure merit-based decisions had passed the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act 2015 (MTI Act 2015) and declared nine hospitals and medical colleges as MTIs managed by the respective boards. The board members were to be selected through search and nomination committee.
At the NMC, the BoG members suspected foulplay when they were prevented from selecting chairman until Gulrez Hakeem Khan joined them.When Gulrez Hakeem Khan allegedly started bypassing the BoG members and violating rules and regulations in taking important decisions related to the medical college and hospital - Qazi Hussain Ahmad Medical Complex - all the BoG members showed no confidence in him and replaced him with Malik Riaz Awan as chairman.
However, he approached the Peshawar Court High which restored him as chairman BoG.The BoG members claimed they tried to persuade Gulrez Hakeem Khan to follow rules and get all his decisions approved by the BoG but to no avail.
The board members stopped attending meetings when Gulrez Hakeem Khan continued refused to take them into confidence. They showed no confidence in him when he appointed Dr Mohammad Arif as Hospital Director without advertising the position.
“The hospital director was appointed for five years without approval of the BoG. We informed the Health Department and decided to stay from the meetings as all his decisions were illegal and violation of MTI rules,” Arif Khattak, a BoG member, told The News.
After being restored by the court, Gulrez Hakeem Khan again started making controversial decisions and appointed Dean for the college without following the rules and regulations.
According to sources in Health Department, the post of Dean NMC was advertised in March 2018 and after scrutiny of the applicants the selection and promotion committee including senior faculty members of Khyber Medical College (KMC) and Khyber Girls Medical College (KGMC) Peshawar held interviews on August 4, 2018. They selected Prof Zia Mohammad as Dean as he had the required experience for the post.
Dr Hussain was second while Prof Jehangir Khan was third in the list of shortlisted candidates.The then BoG, which was for an interim period during the time of caretaker government, issued notification of Prof Zia Mohammad as Dean NMC. The appointment was made in exigency for three months subject to approval by the next BoG for a period of three years.
Prof Zia Muhammad took over the charge of Dean NMC on August 7, 2018. When the new BoG was formed, it decided a policy to grant extension to MTI employees every three months subject to their efficiency and performance. In its next meeting, the BoG approved extension to Prof Zia Mohammad till November 7, 2018 and subsequently till February 7, 2019.
Meanwhile, Gulrez Hakeem Khan appointed Prof Jehangir Khan as his legal advisor despite the fact that two official legal advisors were already working.
An official of the Health Department said Gulrez Hakeem Khan appointed Dr Anwar Wazir (a close aide of Dr Jehangir Khan) as secretary BoG and Hospital Director Dr. Arif for a period of five years without any advertisement, scrutiny and interview.
According to the BoG members, the chairman used to convene meetings of the board on the advice of Dr Jehangir Khan who told him he does not need the board members for the meetings and decisions.
In the BoG meeting on February 23, 2019, the chairman approved item number 6 that extended the services of Prof Zia Mohammad as Dean NMC and Dr Mohammad Arif as Hospital Director for six months.
Sources in the NMC said the chairman’s unilateral decisions and delusion of grandeur resulted in mistrust and differences between him and BoG members. Finally, the chairman was removed through a no confidence motion and replaced by Malik Riaz Awan. The new board started functioning from March 21, 2019.
In the meantime, the sources said Dr Jehangir Khan managed to sign a fake appointment letter from the deposed chairman (Gulrez Hakeem Khan) in the back date of March 20, 2019.
“He went to the Dean’s office with this fake letter and tried to occupy it by force but the staff did not allow him. He snatched the daily Dak file from the PS and went away,” said an official.
According to sources, Dr Jehangir arranged a lawyer for Gulrez Hakeem Khan in the court, which restored him on May 6, 2019.
“With Gulrez Hakeem Khan’s backing, Dr Jehangir went to the Dean’s office, broke the locks and illegally occupied the office. One can imagine the kind of impression the budding doctors would get from such unethical and unlawful acts in the college,” opined a senior faculty member.
Dr Jehangir, who was supposed to retire from service on June 7, 2019, managed to appoint his daughter, Quratul Ain as office assistant (BPS-16) without advertising the position or appearing in interview. No selection committee recommended her appointment.
Arif Khattak, the BoG member, said they had never appointed or approved Dr Jehangir as Dean. “If we had approved his selection he would have assumed charge when Gulrez Hakeem Khan was removed as chairman BoG,” he argued.
Dr Jehangir Khan denied all charges against him, saying his daughter was appointed on merit. Gulrez Hakeem Khan didn’t bother to take calls from this correspondent or replied to his text messages. When his comments were sought, Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan said: “Let me investigate and will not spare any culprit. All will be removed.”