ABBOTTABAD: The Board of Governors (BoG), Ayub Medical Institution (AMI), has terminated the service of its secretary. The decision was made in the BoG meeting chaired by Major General (Retd) Dr Asif Ali Khan. Besides taking other decisions, the BoG settled the controversy about appointment of Dr Major (R) Siddiqur Rehman as secretary on a handsome package without fulfilling the criteria and removed him with immediate effect. A senior medical officer, Dr Junaid Sarwar, was authorised to work as acting secretary till the appointment of a replacement. The outgoing BoG chairman Javed Panni had offered this position to Dr Major (R) Siddiqur Rehman, the former acting hospital director who did not even apply for this post just after the rejection of two candidates by the selection committee. An advertisement published in a section of press had clearly stated that “The prospective candidate should hold a master’s degree in business administration and commerce or be a law graduate. A candidate holding the qualification of corporate secretary from the Institute of Corporate Secretaries of Pakistan will be preferred. The candidate should have at least seven-year experience as secretary in a major private or public company/institution.” It may be recalled that Dr Major (R) Siddiqur Rehman remained hospital director for one year after his retirement at the age of 60 years without terms and conditions settled by the government. The provincial Health Department failed to settle the “terms & conditions” even after he relinquished charge as hospital director. He was appointed as a contract-based grade 20 officer in the Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) in Abbottabad as mentioned in the official notification issued on March 25, 2015. The salary of the hospital director was stopped for four months and released after the intervention of the BoG on June 20, according to the letter of Resident Audit Department of ATH, dated November 19, 2015. Dr Major (R) Siddiqur Rehman, who earlier served as medical superintendent of the Saidu Group of Teaching Hospitals in Swat, was notified as hospital director ATH, Abbottabad on March 25, 2015 by the Secretary Health KP, replacing Dr Iftikhar Ahmed, another grade-20 officer then working as medical superintendent. The decision was made to implement the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act 2015. Interestingly, Dr Major (R) Siddiqur Rehman retired from government service at the age of 60 on March 31, 2015 but the notification by the health department authorised him to continue his service at the ATH.
