Favouritism alleged in KTH, KMC appointments

PESHAWAR: Allegations of favouritism and administrative interference in the recent selection of departmental chairpersons at Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Khyber Medical College (KMC) have surfaced.

Conducted between February and March 2025, the appointment process for the chairpersons in both basic and clinical Sciences - physiology, anatomy, medicine, forensic medicine, pathology, pharmacology and orthopaedics - is under fire for procedural irregularities and what insiders have described as “deliberate manipulation” by the administration. The rest of the departments had mostly only one candidate appearing for the interview.

According to multiple sources and several faculty members within the institutions and members of the selection committee, the process was effectively overridden by the personal preferences of the administration, and allegedly ignored recommendations and altered final selection lists.

“Despite a formally constituted committee, the decisions were predetermined,” said sources from the selection panel. “The committee’s role was reduced to a mere formality,” the sources alleged.

Sources alleged candidates holding positions of assistant and associate professor were preferred over professors with higher qualifications and decades of academic and administrative expertise with remarkable research and clinical achievements.

In an unusual move, several members of the selection committee officially recorded their objections, citing an “undue interference” by a senior office holder in the facility, but, according to sources, their concerns were dismissed without explanation.

Affected candidates subsequently lodged formal appeals with the BoG regarding the inclusion of a faculty member in both the scrutiny and selection committees. No action has been taken to date.

When contacted, Dr Waqar Ajmal, Chairman of the Board of Governors of Khyber Teaching Hospital rejected the claims as false. He stated, “Every credible information is looked into and decisions taken on merit. There is, however, a process we follow for everything to ensure fairness. We will get to the bottom of any wrongdoing, correct it, and ensure it does not happen in future.”