21 dept heads show no trust in SZH chairman

LAHORE

In a letter to the chief minister, 21 heads of departments of Shaikh Zayed Hospital/Federal Post Graduate Medical Institute (SZH/FPGMI) have expressed no confidence in their chairman/dean, accusing him of indulging in corruption, being inefficient, maltreating senior faculty members, making illegal appointments, adversely affecting patient care in the hospital and failing the institution.

The 21 out of 29 heads allege that since joining the institute as chairman and dean on April 11, 2015, Dr Farid A Khan, a professor of plastic surgery, has been failing the institution internally as well as externally, tarnishing the working and image of the prestigious facility.

Sources said that only three department heads were supporting the chairman/dean while posts of two or three departments were vacant and heads of the remaining specialties were fence-sitting under the doctrine of expediency.

The letter, duly signed by the 21 heads and received by Additional Secretary Development of Chief Minister’s Office on October 27, 2016, sought the chief minister’s urgent intervention to set the affairs of the institute right and save the prestigious institution from imminent destruction.

The faculty members and staff of SZH/FPGMI believed that he ranked 169th on the seniority list and didn’t fulfill the criteria to hold the chairman/dean’s office. They alleged that his past record was tainted with a history of producing a fake experience certificate, misuse of government property and unethical surgeries for the lust of power and money.

They produced documentary evidence to allege that during his previous posting as professor of plastic surgery in King Edward Medical University, he had been held guilty among others of stealing “Zimmer Dermatome” equipment from Mayo Hospital causing a financial loss of Rs948,430 to the public exchequer and was ordered to pay his part of the recovery amount of Rs270,000. Besides, they alleged, PMDC in its notification in October 2007 had also declared his experience certificate as ‘fake’.

“It is pity that the person with this background was rewarded by making chairman/dean of one of the most prestigious medical institutes of the country,” they regretted. They charged the chairman had illegally transferred the hospital’s funds amounting to Rs900 million from National Bank of Pakistan’s hospital branch to a private bank without any valid reason or approval of the board of governors.

Talking to this correspondent, the faculty members accused embezzlement in funds for liver transplant operations, allocated by the Punjab government with specific allocations for every deserving patient covering all expenses including pre- and post-surgery treatment, care and medicines, etc, and alleged he transferred the extra amount, which remained unspent in the event of patient’s early death, to a private account jointly held with a liver transplant surgeon.

They blamed that the chairman was illegally using the powers of the board of governors (BoG), chief secretary and health secretary by making illegal appointments to different positions.

He illegally appointed the chief security officer, director legal management and a couple of legal consultants without the approval of the board of governors despite the fact that the posts were not available in the PC-1, they claimed and alleged that he had awarded the security contract to a company of the chief security officer’s relative and was giving salaries between Rs12,000 and Rs14,000 to guards instead of the stipulated salary of Rs22,000.

Besides, the faculty alleged, the chairman has appointed nearly 100 employees, including personal staff and even ghost employees without any lawful authority. They charged that he had also appointed senior registrars (SRs) in the neurology ward and paeds surgery ward, whose degrees were not even recognised by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

The faculty members and staff of SZH/FPGMI claimed that he had adopted extremely rude and insulting behaviour with senior faculty and staff members by dropping names of senior civil and military leadership to intimidate them. “Due to a communication gap and distrust between the employees and the office of the chairman, the staff remained on strike in hospital for one month, which not only caused huge loss to the hospital’s revenue but also severely affected the healthcare services to patients in the hospital,” they added.

They lamented that he was trying to run the institute like his personal empire and the employees as his personal servants, while alleging that he had constructed a luxury retiring room and purchased different items from the budget meant for patient welfare.

They blamed that he had been changing the approved PC-1 of different departments at the behest of companies without approval from technical and administrative authorities. Despite recommendations from the Academic Council about promotion through DP&SC to be arranged from grade 19 to 20 and then lower grades, they alleged, he manipulated the court orders to defy the right of promotion of faculty members to reward his ‘blue-eyed persons’ and also awarded them bonuses and extra allowances from the government exchequer. They alleged that he was also involving YDA in administrative matters to use them against the faculty.

They charged that he had discriminated against the faculty in award and payment of incentives to a few persons without approval from BoG, while the clinical faculty was deprived of incentives for more than two years. They also condemned him for illegally taping the conversation of senior faculty members and tampering with the minutes of the Academic Council meeting.

Due to his administrative inefficiency, they claimed, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Medical and Dental College has been derecognised. They alleged that he had been obstructing the recognition of Liver Transplant Centre with College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP). “There is total unrest at all levels in the institute and as a result, patient care is severely hampered because of a unconducive environment and demoralised staff and doctors,” they observed and added that equipment and machinery in different departments were rendered non-functional despite the availability of sufficient funds due to the unserious attitude of the incumbent head of the institution.

The faculty members and staff of the hospital, while declaring working under him a punishment, requested the chief minister that he should be immediately removed from the post and proposed appointing a senior member from the faculty as chairman/dean of SZH/FPGMI on merit by following the laid down procedure for smooth functioning of the institute.

It is reliably learnt that representatives of the Chief Minister’s Cell have completed initial investigations after examining the hospital’s official record during the last two weeks. Officials of the Special Branch have also started contacting faculty members to probe the matter.

Besides, it is also learnt that on the orders of the Chief Minister’s Office, Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education (SHC&ME) Department had initiated an inquiry in December 2015 against the chairman on the basis of similar charges levelled by SZH chapter of Allied Health Organisation, Punjab. However, the inquiry couldn’t reach its logical conclusion, allegedly due to “intervention from political circles.”

SZH Chairman/Dean Prof Dr Farid A Khan was not available for comment as he had gone to England for one week. SZH Acting Chairman Prof Dr Shafique Ahmad Shafaq vehemently rejected all the allegations, saying that some faculty members were hatching a conspiracy against the chairman out of sheer jealousy as they could not become chairman. He said the faculty members had not levelled the allegations from any forum like Academic Council nor Medical Teachers Association; therefore, they didn’t hold ground, and accused them of inciting the hospital staff to hold strikes to discredit the chairman.

“Some ‘miscreants’ among the faculty have got signatures of heads of departments individually as they cannot take a unanimous decision by sitting across the table together,” he said, adding that they would have to prove all the allegations or face the consequences of maligning the prestige and integrity of an upright person with a distinguished career, who is endeavouring to improve administration, security, medical education and health services in the institution. “They are levelling allegations without any proof against the chairman,” he added.

He said the chairman had made all appointments after following the laid down procedure of newspaper advertisements and shortlisting candidates for posting on merit. When asked about the appointment of the chief security officer without approval of the BoG, he said the Punjab government, after a bomb blast in Lahore, had ordered the SZH administration to appoint s security expert to improve security in the hospital.

He said the chairman had the authority to make appointments in grade 17 and grade 18 and thus appointed three SRs in Orthopaedic Department, Neurology and Paeds Surgery Wards. However, he said he was not aware of the PMDC’s status of degrees of two SRs in Neurology and Paeds Surgery Wards. Besides, he said the chairman had appointed daily-wagers for ongoing work on second floor and their employment would expire after a stipulated period of 90 days, and completely rejected the allegations of using the employees as ‘personal staff’. He also rejected the allegations of misappropriation in the salaries of security guards by giving less than the fixed salary to them, saying that they were being given salaries according to their contract.

To a question on the transfer of hospital’s funds from NBP to a private bank, he said the funds had been transferred to a private bank with the highest interest rate in a transparent bid. To another question of embezzlement of extra funds of liver transplant operations, he said the extra amount of Rs20 million had been returned to the government after a transparent audit conducted by the auditors of the Punjab government.

He said Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Medical and Dental College had been derecognised during the previous chairman’s tenure, saying that the chairman had worked extremely hard and got it recognised with the PMDC. He also termed ridiculous the allegations of changing the Academic Council’s meeting minutes and taping the conversation of the faculty as the minutes were finalised only after the signatures of the faculty.

When contacted, SHC&ME Department Secretary Najam Ahmad Shah confirmed receiving the letter, saying that the department would seek comments from the chairman. “As a majority of the faculty members have signed the complaint, the department will take up and resolve the matter at the earliest,” he said, adding that the department would sift through the points to differentiate between the general and specific allegations with the purpose to hold a fair inquiry into the matter.

To a question about the department’s previous inquiry on similar charges against the chairman levelled by the paramedics, also routed through the Chief Minister’s Office but remained inconclusive, he said the department would also consider the previous inquiry.