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Thursday March 28, 2024

KP govt replaces heads of four hospitals

PESHAWAR: Following implementation of the Health and Medical Institutions and Regulations Act 2015, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department on Wednesday finally replaced the chief executives and medical superintendents of the four major tertiary care hospitals with medical directors and hospital directors.The doctors’ community had started criticising the health department for

By Mushtaq Yusufzai
March 26, 2015
PESHAWAR: Following implementation of the Health and Medical Institutions and Regulations Act 2015, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department on Wednesday finally replaced the chief executives and medical superintendents of the four major tertiary care hospitals with medical directors and hospital directors.
The doctors’ community had started criticising the health department for its failure to implement the much-publicised Health Act in its true spirit after the replacement of chief executives and medical superintendents was delayed for almost three months despite the decision to refer to the tertiary care hospitals as Medical and Teaching Institutions (MTIs).
Provincial Secretary Health Mushtaq Ahmad Jadoon, however, argued that before making some minor changes, the government had decided to make proper arrangements for full implementation of the Health Act in its original shape.
The chief minister had granted powers to the secretary health to replace the chief executives and medical superintendents with medical directors and hospital directors by appointing faculty members of the respective teaching institutions.
In the new rules, the government had abolished the posts of chief executives and medical superintendents.According to a notification, noted paediatrician Prof Dr Nadim Khawar was appointed as medical director and Dr Farman Ali, a senior member of the management cadre, as hospital director of the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH).
Dr Nadim Khawar replaced senior radiologist Prof Dr Inayat Shah Roghani while Dr Farman Ali, who was working as DMS Stores at KTH, was appointed in place of Dr Mohammad Ali Chohan.Prominent surgeon Prof Dr Mazhar Khan was appointed as medical director and Dr Khalid Latif as hospital director of the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) Peshawar.
Prof Dr Mazhar Khan replaced Prof Dr Mumtaz Marwat. Dr Khalid Latif, working as medical superintendent in the same hospital, was allowed to continue his job but the nomenclature of his post was changed and made according to the new rules.For the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), which is the oldest and largest public sector hospital, Prof Dr Aamir Ghafoor was appointed as medical director and Dr Adnan Taj as hospital director.
Dr Aamir Ghafoor, a gastroenterologist, replaced Prof Dr Muzaffaruddin Sadiq and Dr Adnan Taj was appointed in place of Dr Mohammad Sharif, a senior member of the management cadre. Sources said that during his service, Dr Sharif earned the ire of many for following merit in appointments and selection as well as in the purchase of medicines and costly equipment.
Some senior faculty members of the LRH noted that the health department should have appointed doctors who possessed better management skills and experience to run the largest hospital of the province. Officials of the health department, however, argued that these appointments are for a short period of time and those appointed would not make any major decisions.
Dr Aftab Rabbani, an ophthalmologist, was appointed as medical director and Dr Siddiqur Rahman the hospital director of the Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) in Abbottabad.In the notification, the government didn’t mention the tenure of the newly appointed medical directors and hospital directors.
The outgoing chief executives were also appointed on acting charge basis as the government wanted to advertise these positions to hire people from the market. However, the government couldn’t fulfill its commitment due to reasons best known to it and the chief executives worked for more than a year in an acting capacity.
Secretary Health Mushtaq Ahmad Jadoon had earlier stated that medical directors and hospital directors would be appointed for a short time, may be for some days or weeks. But it seems they would work for a few months as the government is yet to complete the list of Board of Governors for the public hospitals.
Once the Board of Governors (BoGs) are selected, a search committee will be formed to appoint hospital directors and medical directors for the hospitals.On January 14, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had passed the new law to give autonomy to the public sector teaching institutions and affiliated hospitals to improve medical education and patient care.It was notified on January 19 after being signed by the governor but it took much time for the government to implement it.