KTH’s BoG forces acting hospital director to resign

PESHAWAR: The Board of the Governors (BoG) of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) in a surprise move allegedly forced Acting Hospital Director Prof Inayatur Rahman to resign and appointed Dr Zafar Afridi in his place.

It has led to strong criticism as until now members of the BoG used to criticise Dr Zafar Afridi for challenging certain decisions of the board in the court. “It was a surprising development as the BoG had already advertised the hospital director position and removed one acting hospital director to appoint another acting director. If these so-called health reforms had caused damage to any institution, it is KTH where most of the board members had always been involved in serving vested interests rather than improving patient care,” explained a former medical director of the hospital.

Pleading anonymity, he held the government, particularly certain Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders, responsible for inducting people in the boards with no experience of working in the health sector.

The board members were not able to hold their meeting in KTH and restore their writ in the institution during 47 days of strike by the health workers in the hospital. The board as usual held its meeting at a private educational institution in Hayatabad.

The decision was made at a time when the government had almost decided to remove four BoG members and replace them with new people. Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan told The News that four members of the board had been replaced and the summary sent to the chief minister for approval.