Dr Iqbal front runner for top PIMS post

Islamabad : Dr Iqbal Memon, the head of the Anaesthesia Department, has emerged as the odds-on favourite for the post of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences executive director as the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) puts up three senior most officers of the capital’s premier government hospital to the prime minister’s office for his pick for the coveted BPS-20 office.

Among the other two in the running are PIMS Deputy Executive Director Dr Anjum Javed and Head of the Gynaecology Department Prof Syeda Batool Mazhar. They all, BPS-20 officers, are from the clinical cadre with the PIMS being their parent organisation.

The development comes ahead of the expiry of the Supreme Court’s 15-day deadline set on April 5 for the government to fill the top PIMS office on a permanent basis. Since the retirement of PIMS Executive Director Dr Altaf Hussain Qureshi in January, Dr Raja Amjad Mehmood has been acting as a stand-in for the permanent top boss of the hospital.

Insiders say the names of Dr Raja Amjad and Head of Children Hospital Dr Ejaz Qadeer were earlier proposed for the top PIMS slot but didn't sit well with the CADD on the grounds that they were basically deputationists, who got themselves absorbed into the hospital.

They add that the naming of the PIMS own officers for ED post comes over the fears of the Supreme Court’s action against the non-implementation of orders for the repatriation of officials, who joined the PIMS, Federal Government Polyclinic and National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine on deputation or transfer basis after 1994 and became staff members later on.

The CADD has the administrative control of all health-related organisations in the capital city in the post-devolution regime. The insiders claim the prime minister’s office has approved the names of three candidates for interview and therefore, one of them is likely to be made the next permanent head of the hospital before April 20, the Supreme Court deadline for the filling of the vacancy.

They say since Dr Iqbal Memon has held the top PIMS office on interim basis for sometime, he is likely to get it once again though on permanent basis this time around. The insiders insist the officers of administrative, teaching and clinical cadres can be promoted or appointed as the executive director (BPS-21) in any organisation under the CADD.