PESHAWAR: Bypassing rules and regulations and the Board of Governors (BoG), the BOG’s chairman at the Nowshera Medical College (NMC) has appointed a doctor as hospital director without even advertising the position.
“The doctor appointed as hospital director for five years is junior in (BPS-18). It is open violation of the rules and regulations of the Medical Teaching Institution Reforms Act 2015,” an official of the (NMC) said.
This correspondent is in possession of a copy of the appointment order dated March 13, 2019 and duly signed by Gulrez Hakeem Khan, chairman BoG. Dr Mohammad Arif Khan, stated to be a close relative of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, has been appointed hospital director for a period of five years.
However, the sources said that the chief minister had neither recommended him nor played any role in his appointment. “In rest of the medical teaching institutions, all key positions such as medial directors, hospital directors and even deans are appointed for a period of three years,” said a faculty member in NMC on condition of anonymity.
Also, Dr Mohammad Arif is stated to be the highest paid doctor appointed under the MTI rules. As per his appointment order, he would draw Rs500,000 as his salary from the national exchequer.
In rest of the MTIs, according to official sources, all doctors working on administrative position are paid less than Dr Mohammad Arif. At the LRH, the sources said, he was paid less than Rs130,000 as his salary. Two members of the BoG in Nowshera told The News that they had not approved appointment of the hospital director yet. They said the board meeting was called last Saturday and was postponed until Tuesday when the members didn’t come due to “different” reasons.
“There are multiple issues here in our board and most of the members are of the view that their opinion is not given importance. They complain that chairman alone is running the show,” said one of the BoG members. He said the board meeting has been called today to discuss appointment of the hospital director and some other matters. “There is no doubt about the competence and commitment of Dr Arif Khan for this institution but it would better had rules been followed in his appointment. Dr Arif in three months of period had changed the face of the hospital and dramatically improved services, but I am afraid people would raise fingers on his appointment made without advertising the position,” opined the BoG member on condition of anonymity. Another BoG member also confirmed the appointment of Dr Arif’s appointment as hospital director, but added that the BoG has not yet approved it. “Yes I know the chairman has signed his appointment order but we haven’t approved it yet,” he told The News. Before his appointment as hospital director, Dr Arif was serving as DMS at the LRH. Efforts were made to seek comments of BoG chairman, Gulrez Hakeem Khan, but he neither attended phone calls nor replied to text messages sent to his cell number. When approached for his comments, Dr Arif Khan said the chairman BoG had earlier appointed him for three months on exigency basis and now as full time hospital director, but he would have to get it approved by the board members. “If the BoG didn’t approve my appointment, then they will need to advertise the position,” he argued. He said his promotion to BPS-19 is due, adding he had worked on key positions such as hospital director and DMS at LRH. “I could have secured good positions in Peshawar but the reason I chose to work in Nowshera is to improve the services at the hospital. I reach the hospital by 8am and leave after sunset. In three months, I have cleared more than Rs50 million as liabilities of medicines of the hospital and ensured medicine supply to the institution. Now 80 percent of the patients are provided free medicines in the hospital,” he maintained. He said he had established state-of-the-art trauma centre, CCU, ICU and burn centre in the hospital.
